Tofu. Never had it.

Want to try it. 

Anyone have a good "beginner's" recipe for someone who's never handled the stuff before? 

(In case it matters, I'm not a vegetarian or anything. Just thought I'd throw that out there.) 

Tofu isn't hard to handle at all.  In fact, it's one of the simplest proteins out there.  It's edible just the way it is, but even if you don't want to leave it raw, it's still incredibly easy to work with.  A lot of people will drown it in spices and dress it up to make it be "just like" meat.  Don't do that.  And don't buy the type of tofu that's just marinating in weird sauces and spices.  Just buy plain hard tofu.  That way, you get to decide what you want it to taste like, and there are a million things you can do with it...

My favorite recipe for tofu is a stir-fry somewhat similar to this one.  Although it's rather time-consuming, it's really very good.  I think the tofu and the stir-fry sauce are just the right combination.  It's a good way to introduce yourself to the stuff without going headfirst into it, not knowing at all what you're in for.

A much quicker recipe I LOVE is just 1-inch cubes of tofu lightly fried in oil (preferably peanut oil).  Heat on medium-low heat until the tofu gets light brown.  Toss in some sliced onions and fry until translucent and you'll have a deliciously quick and easy chopstick food.  You can even get crazy and add some minced garlic and an assortment of spices such as red chili powder, oregano, parsley, sage or cumin.  If you're "brave" enough to try the taste of a more plain tofu, go for this recipe - it'll dress it up just enough to give you a good sense for what tofu's really like, and then you can do what you want from there.

well, what do you like to eat? Tofu has endless possibilities. Give me a sense of what flavor you like it to be introduced with?

Soft Tofu Breakfast Scramble

Break a block of soft, silken tofu into pieces. 
In a saute pan, melt a teaspoon of butter or olive oil and saute chopped green peppers, onions and mushrooms until lightly browned and dry.  Add a half a teaspoon of turmerick for yellow color (also good for the digestion).  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the crumbled tofu and cook as you would scrambled eggs, over medium low heat until most of the moisture evaporates.  Season to taste and serve with toast. 

mmmm grill it with seasoning...goes great on a salad.

Tofu is whatever you want it to be basically. 

Kinda like Chicken in that it can be flavored in so many ways but it is bland on its own.

In Stir Fry it is good, or browned in a pan with some onions and garlic and butter. 

Scrambles are good.

Soft Tofu in Smoothies is good.

It is high in protein, so it can replace a meat in anything. 

It is also good in salad... just plain with a balsamic vinegar dressing or so.

It is more of a texture than anything else. 

It is an ingredient in tofu burgers and not-chicken nuggets... which are delicious and healthy things.

I grew up eating tofu, it's almost a kind of comfort food for me, oddly enough.

My mom would always prepare it as such:

Cut up a block of medium-firm tofu once lengthwise and then across shortwise to make manageable slices, about 1/4" wide. Heat up for a few seconds in the microwave (covered) and then top off with sesame oil, soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds, to taste.

She might have added the sesame oil and soy sauce first, before heating it up, but I can't recall. I'm not sure that it matters terribly much.

It's not a very exciting dish, but I love it. It's more of a side or a snack, than an entree, though. Frying tofu, as mentioned earlier is also another deeeelicious way to enjoy. Just be sure to use the extra-firm variety so it doesn't fall apart.

All- Thank you so much!! This all looks awesome. I tried looking up stuff in general on the 'net, but thought I might have better luck asking CC folks. So far, I haven't been disappointed! Keep sharing, I love it. 

pinzywinzy- I love food. All food. Good food. Not-So-Good food. Good for you food, food that will clog your arteries and make you gain 15 pounds if you even think about it.  (I'm an ex-smoker. (Not tobacco.) Wink-wink-nudge-nudge. I think that's one of the reasons my weight got SOOO out of hand.)

I love herbs and spices. I like a little heat. I like lean meat. I don't care for dark meat. I know from a chef's perspective the best meats are the meats with bone and fat, but I can't deal with either of those things. But otherwise I really don't have a lot of food aversions . I was really lucky growing up that my Dad liked to cook all kinds of stuff, so I grew up with a wide variety of foods. Mexican style stuff, some stir-fry, Italian, etc. I didn't have my first curry until I got to visit the U.K. when I was 18 or so, but I fell in love with East Indian cuisine. I don't really know how to cook much of it, but I love it.

I hope this helps. I'm pretty easy going, I just never heard good things about tofu until I joined CC and I'm intrigued. I think I'd like to try it out.    

If you have Medium Firm Tofu and like (spicy) chinese cuisine...

Ma Po Tofu

Original recipe ask for 1/2 ground pork and 1/2 ground beef, but you can use imitated meat, or ground chicken. And there's no need to use as much chili oil as some recipes call, just a dash, it's plenty.

My tofu tricks are as follows:

Extra-firm tofu is awesome.  

I always take the tofu block out of the water or whatever in the container and wrap it in paper towells to dry it out a bit before cooking or marinating.  Much better this way.

Marinating:  my favorite so far is teryaki tofu - tbsp honey, 1/4 cup soy sauce, several cloves garlic, grated fresh ginger, bit of white wine or if not then rice vinegar, green onions, tsp sesame oil - marinate for a few hours or if possible overnight.  Remember to cut the tofu into cubes before marinating.

Tofu is already "cooked" so if adding to stir fry, only put it in so that it has just enough time to warm.

Tofu is also great with greens.  I do a kind of miso soup-inspired collard greens dish.  I take shitake mushrooms (nice but you can do with regular) and simmer them in water for a good long while with garlic and green onions until it makes a kind of broth.  Then when ready, turn the heat up, add coarsely chopped collards, cover and cook for 6 minutes.  Uncover, stir, add a dash of balsamic and a dash of soy and the tofu - marinated  or otherwise - then cover.  6 more minutes.  Yum.  This dish has very few calories and a lot of nutrition.

Original Post by akela9:

pinzywinzy- I love food. All food. Good food. Not-So-Good food. Good for you food, food that will clog your arteries and make you gain 15 pounds if you even think about it.  (I'm an ex-smoker. (Not tobacco.) Wink-wink-nudge-nudge. I think that's one of the reasons my weight got SOOO out of hand.)

I love herbs and spices. I like a little heat. I like lean meat. I don't care for dark meat. I know from a chef's perspective the best meats are the meats with bone and fat, but I can't deal with either of those things. But otherwise I really don't have a lot of food aversions . I was really lucky growing up that my Dad liked to cook all kinds of stuff, so I grew up with a wide variety of foods. Mexican style stuff, some stir-fry, Italian, etc. I didn't have my first curry until I got to visit the U.K. when I was 18 or so, but I fell in love with East Indian cuisine. I don't really know how to cook much of it, but I love it.  

re: smoking -

re: heat, stir fry and, herbs, curry

Oooh. I agree with the mapo tofu recipe above.

The other one you might want to try is this one: thai green curry with tofu and vegetables. If it's too intimidating to cook on your own, all thai restaurants will have it. (I'm assuming you have access to thai restaurants).

Also from the discussions I've seen here in the forum, you might want to start with the medium firm to firm types of tofu. For many, it seems the silken tofu is an acquired texture preference, though for me that is best kind! :)

Vanilla- Looks truly fabulous. *Wipes drool from corner of mouth* Wow. That really does looks awesome.

Hipships- Thanks for the tofu "tips" hon. I need them.!  

pinzywinzy- Here I was all bragging about my wide culinary palette, and now I've got to confess to having never had Thai food. I live in a hick mid-western town and its just not around here. :( (We don't have local Indian stuff, either. It stinks.) So If I'm going to try it, I'm going to have to make it. 

We're going shopping tomorrow eve... I will let you all know what I end up doing for my "Virgin Tofu Experience". :) 

Buy extra firm or hard tofu, drain out the liquid and replace the liquid with whatever flavor you are going for - broth, marinade, etc. - enough to cover the block.  Then freeze it for at least 24 hours.  Take it out to thaw (for best results let it thaw for 24 hours in the fridge, or you can do it in a few minutes in the microwave).  Cut into 8 equal sized "cutlets".  Place between 2 towels (or paper towels) and place a cookie sheet on top with some heavy objects such as books or cans for weight.  Let it press for 15-30 minutes to remove most of the moisture.

This will produce a very firm, flavorful cutlet.  After pressing you can either leave it in cutlets or cut into cubes or strips as desired.  You can also bread the tofu, and/or marinate it more before cooking, if desired.  I love brushing it with BBQ sauce and baking or grilling it, which are my favorite methods of cooking tofu, because I like a more crispy exterior than you can get from stir-frying (at least, without a lot of oil).  Even if I have a stir fry, I will usually bake the tofu first while I stir fry the veggies, then add the baked tofu at the end.

My favorite, though is silken tofu with coconut curry (inspired by PF Chang's). Crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside - it's heavenly.  This requires no pressing or marinating.  Just bake or broil till you achieve a crispy, brown exterior and add to the curry.  (I tried frying it, but it just fell apart and never browned)

Edited to add:  I just googled it and discovered you cannot fry silken tofu without a breading.  Duh.  However if you coat it in flour or other breading it should brown quite nicely when fried.  I will try that next time.  :)

Soondubu Chigae so delicious! http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/soondubu-jjiga e

My creation: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail. asp?recipe=631075

UD

Okay, all. I tried it. I did a variation of this recipie, here:

broccoli-tofu with spicy-peanut-sauce-recipe

The recipe itself is very tasty. And I can definitely see the appeal of tofu... The way it takes on flavors, etc. I'm going to have to try some of your other suggestions as far as texture goes. It was okay, but I didn't love it.

I pressed the original packing liquid out of firm tofu. I marinated it overnight in a teriyaki type sauce  (spicy, not sweet) and the flavor, again, was very nice with the stir-fry (I used a mixed veggie type instead of just broccoli... Squash, asparagus, peppers, etc.) I didn't really have time to freeze or bread the tofu before "frying".... So it was a quite mushy. I'm going to try it, again, and either bake it, as adolphs suggested or try breading it in flour or corn-starch as others have suggested. I think I'd like it quite a bit better if it was crispier (at least on the outside.)

I'm going to try again. Thanks for all the advice, etc. I'll get it "right" eventually.  

Good for you for trying it and not giving up when the results are less than optimal.  The key is definitely in the prep.  If I don't have the time to follow all the steps (freezing, pressing, etc.) I don't bother because I know that it won't be as good as it can be.  It should never be mushy. 

If you are pressed for time, you can fry, broil, or bake silken tofu which doesn't require much prep.  It does have a lot different flavor/texture, though.   You can also buy dried tofu (I've only seen at Asian markets) and baked tofu (available at higher end grocery stores like Whole Foods) in a variety of flavors.  It's a little more expensive, but it can be eaten as is right out of the package (just heat it up if desired) and the texture is great.  I recently bought grilled tofu and was very disappointed - it was basically just the unflavored white block with a few brown marks drawn on, so I would say save your money and stay away from that kind!

I suggest you try tofu at a restaurant so you can see what it should be like.  Most Asian restaurants, plus vegetarian restaurants if you know of any, should offer it.  As far as chains, PF Changs and Pei Wei both serve tofu.

I agree with trying it at a restaurant first. I tried cooking it myself initially and just couldn't get it to come out right. Korean food does tofu well. Check out a Korean restaurant. umneydurak suggested making soondubu jjigae. It's a great Korean dish using soft tofu. The site he listed (maangchi.com) is great for Korean recipes, too. She has a couple tofu side dishes up that involve just frying in a pan and making a sauce to go over top... really good stuff. 

In the veggie section of CC they always say baking it with barbeque sauce is really good. 

Original Post by akela9:

Okay, all. I tried it.

Hey Akela9 great! Sorry about lack of restaurants in your area. I lived in the midwest too and I know how that can be like. Anyway, good luck with the experimenting. Another tofu variation that I think is easy to like is egg-tofu - which tastes like a delicate egg-custard without the sugar.

If you have a chance, go to Youtube.com and search for "good eats tofu world"

I'd only eaten tofu in restaurants before watching Alton cook with it.... I think the stuff gets a bad rap when people try to force it into being a meat substitute.   Enjoy it for what it is.... not as a tofu-dog or a tofurkey or whatever.

I made lasagna, subbing tofu for the riccotta, and it came out GREAT.  There's the recipe on CC somewhere.