Killer Tofu!
For some reason, I've been quasi-vegetarian (again) as of late. I haven't had much appetite for meat, and nine times out of ten, the mere thought of it kinda turns my stomach. When I go grocery shopping, I buy ridiculous amounts of produce. Spinach, apples, green peppers, carrots, peas, etc. And I complement this with dairy products: yogurt, cottage cheese, milk. Throw in some granola, and that's essentially what I've been eating for the past week or so.
Frankly, I think it's a pretty healthful diet, but my nutritionist was wary, given that I've used vegetarianism as an excuse to eat nothing. This time, I'm for real, however. To prove this, I said that I would try to find alternative protein sources. I looked through the good old internets and found some very easy tofu recipes. I mean, idiot proof recipes. Ah, good! I thought to myself. I can be creative and still get my protein and life will be good.
So I began my cooking adventure earlier this afternoon. I cut open the package of tofu (which had taken me about 20 minutes to pick out at the grocery store), drained the water, and plopped it onto my cutting board. Hmm. A little rubbery, but ok. I sliced it up. It kept falling apart. Hmm, this tofu is more delicate than I had initially thought. But I put it in the sauce, then on the baking sheet. Ha hah! I thought, I'm "cooking". Like a grown-up!
I turned on the oven to pre-heat it. Good good good. Then, the smoke alarm went off. Not good. I didn't even have anything in the oven yet! I turned the oven off. No problem, I thought, I'll just take the battery out of the smoke alarm. After doing so, I returned to the business of pre-heating. Not a minute later, the smoke alarm went off yet again! (I suppose it's good to know that in case I'm actually burning something, it will work whether the battery is dead or not.) I figured that disconnecting the thing wouldn't be such a good idea, so I covered it in saran wrap, which I sealed off with masking tape. Now I was cooking with gas (literally)!
So I put my tofu in the oven. And wait. And resist the urge to check on it every five minutes. Finally, it was time, so I pulled it out. I sorta expected them to be crispy. The recipe said "crispy"! Yet, they were still a bit, well, rubbery. Scowl. I think that my fatal design flaw was buying the wrong kind of tofu entirely, which is a bit disappointing. I'll have to try again at some point. I'll probably still eat these tofu thingies...But hopefully they'll be a little more tasty in the future.
If anyone has any tofu-cooking tips, let me know!
1 comment:
A generally useful tip for cooking tofu is to press it before doing anything to it; because it behaves sort of like a sponge, you want to remove the water from within so that it will absorb the flavors you're using in the recipe.
Here's a really easy tofu preparation method: Slice the block into five thin slices (maybe 1/4-1/2 inch thick), wrap them in paper towel, and place the wrapped bundle on a plate. Place a second plate on top of the bundle and put something heavy, like a thick dictionary, atop the second plate, which will force more water out of the tofu. Let sit for an hour. When the pressing is finished, I marinate the slices in teriyaki sauce for about 15-20 minutes, flipping once so that both sides can absorb the marinade. Then I bake it for maybe 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees, just eyeballing it and making sure it doesn't get hard or very dry. I like it either in a stir-fry or with some rice or soba noodles. Good luck!
--Jane, your long-lost CTY roomie
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