How to cook with tofu?

Hm.

My uncle made a quick dish with tofu before and I’d love it. Simply mix half vinegar half soysauce. This will be your dip. Some white rice. And the cubed tofu, just fry it until it’s browned evenly on each side. I believe you can also chop some white onion and through into the dip sauce and one tiny piece of garlic as well.

The end result comes out to look like a simple appetizer somewhere along the lines of this

It’s scallions, rather than white onions, that make the dip work. See @Whitetigress ‘s pic. And it is delicious!

I just slice it and fry it with soy and onion sesame oil garlic, what ever you like, then I add whatever veg you like, we prefer red pepper and broccoli. Serve over rice or on its own. You can add it to any stirfry but I think it is best if you marinate and fry it first.

Tofu doesn’t have much taste, but’s an amazing sponge at picking up other flavors. Marinate it, saute it, just have fun with it. Medium firm will probably come apart when you cook it. If you want it to hold up go with extra firm.

Thinly sliced roasted extra-firm tofu is a delicious snack or side dish. This can be fiddled with.

2 containers firm or extra firm tofu, pressed
⅓ cup soy sauce
¾ cup water
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1½ tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)
Preparation:

Slice each block of tofu into 4 or 5 slices.
In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, water, ginger, garlic and sesame oil. Pour mixture over each piece of tofu in a shallow bowl or pan, and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet. Carefully place each slice on the baking sheet and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the sheet, if needed and drizzle with more marinade. Bake for another 15 minutes, or until liquid is almost dry.

I either slice it and bake it with soy sauce & nutritional yeast for sandwiches, or I cut it into cubes for stir fry. It absorbs flavor like @Adirondackwannabe said, so it will take on the flavor of any sauces or other things you cook it with. If you want it to have it’s own flavor, you definitely need to marinate it for at least 10 minutes, IMO.

Medium tofu is really good for scrambles also. Crumble it up with your hands, then mix in some curry powder, turmeric and a bit of cumin. Fry that all with some veggies, like you would do with scrambled eggs, and yum!!

Another great method is to drain the water well, then freeze it. When it thaws it’ll be more firm, and have a somewhat tougher texture.

This is making me hungry!! Good luck and have fun with it.

I’ve gotta run right now, but I’ll be back…

I cook with medium firm tofu all the time. I often stir fry veggies in a wok with oil and garlic salt first. Veggies need a head start because they need more time to cook. When veggies are half cooked, I add diced tofu (½ to ¼ inch cubes) and gently mix in. When the tofu is noticeably soft and the veggies look done, I’m done.

Depending upon what type of dish you are making you can press the tofu, to remove some of the liquid or not. Here’s how you Press Tofu

The medium firm tofu has more of a consistency of cooked eggs. A little wetter, and more slippery, but also a little bit smoother.

I tend to use the extra firm tofu, because it holds its shape a little bit better. I don’t go to all the trouble to “press” the moisture out of it, which usually involves putting several layers of paper towels around the block and then putting something heavy, like a frying pan or a loaf pan filled with beans, nothing more than a couple of pounds, and letting that sit for several hours in the fridge. You can do that, but I usually just take a clean dish towel and give the block a squeeze, being careful not to break up the block too much (unless I’m doing a scramble and then it doesn’t really matter).

Then there is the silken tofu, which is goof for making stuff like salad dressings, pudding and dips.

For a stir fry, you don’t need to boil the tofu, just cut it up into chunks of your desired size and cook them in your stir fry pan just like you would with chicken, but since it’s already ready to eat, you don’t have to cook it for as long.

The taste is completely bland, so the sauce that you use will add the flavor. If you don’t like the slippery texture of the tofu, as is, you might like to use Fried Crispy Tofu in your stirfry recipes. It gives the tofu and firmer texture with a slightly crispy outside. You can also eat the fried crispy tofu as a snack with whatever kind of dip or sauce that you like.

Here’s a recipe for Stir Fried Tofu and Veggies that is tasty and gives a bunch of practical tips on how to prepare and handle the tofu, plus a little guide on how to stir fry in general.

Another easy and delicious way to prepare tofu is to Bake It

Don’t forget that you can also Barbecue or Grill your tofu. This article tells you how to do it.

I have seen some articles and one of the posters mention freezing (and then thawing) tofu to give it a firmer texture, but my opinion is that it gives it a really freaky texture. Almost like biting into a sponge. Some people might like it that way, but I absolutely hate that texture.

One of my favorite ways to use tofu is in Mock Egg Salad. One of the ingredients is turmeric which generally lends a curry-like flavor to food, but in this recipe, the turmeric is only used as a coloring agent, you won’t taste it at all with this small amount, but it adds a nice yellowish color, reminiscent of real egg salad, otherwise it looks white and that can be a little off putting. This recipe calls for Vegan Mayonaise, and I ususally use Vegenaise because it tastes the closest to real mayo to me. But you can totally use regular mayo if you want to. This is a really refreshing and light dish, and because it has tofu instead of egg, you cut down on the cholesterol, especially if you use vegan mayonaise. You can also add chives or pickle relish or finely chopped radish or even a touch of curry powder. Yum!

You can also use tofu in place of eggs in dishes like this Mexican Fritatta. This recipe calls for using vegan shredded cheese, but I have yet to find a vegan cheese that is palatable. Maybe someone can help me out with this. I’ve tried all of the usual suspects at Whole Foods and didn’t like any of them. So for this kind of a recipe, I would just use regular dairy cheese, although it won’t be vegan.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that tofu is especially good in Asian soups like this Thai Noodle Soup with Lemongrass and Coconut Milk which is very similar to Tom Kha.

You can also use tofu, in place of cream, in certain dishes to cut down on the fat while still retaining the “creaminess” like in this recipe for Kale and Pasta with Creamy Marinara Sauce

And if you’re still hungry, try this creamy, lemony pudding-like Dessert made with tofu, instead of eggs or cream.

Bon Apetite!