Tofu, otherwise known as bean curd, is a soy food product that is produced by combining a coagulant (usually nigiri) with fresh, hot, curdling soymilk. It may be made at home fresh or bought pre-made at your local health food store or supermarket. Read on to find out 10 easy ways to use tofu.
Types of Tofu
There are three main types of tofu. These include:
- Firm Tofu: solid and dense due to its high protein content. It is also a richer source of fat and calcium when compared to the other tofus. Firm tofu is best used with dishes where you want the tofu to retain its shape – soups, stir-fry’s, grilled dishes, and so on.
- Soft Tofu: soft by nature and best used in Oriental soups or in recipes that include blended tofu components.
- Silken tofu: creamy and custard-like in texture. It is best used in blended or pureed dishes.
10 Ways to Use Tofu
- Stir fries: After browning your tofu in a frypan, add in your mixed fresh vegetables, meat and stir fry sauce of choice and stir until cooked and heated sufficiently to eat.
- Soup: Silken and firm cube tofu may be added into broth-like soups (such as miso or noodle soup).
- Salads: The mild flavour of tofu adds to those of certain dressings and bitter greens. Chop/cube your tofu of choice and toss it in with the salad.
- Burgers: Tofu burgers/patties make the ideal substitute for the non-meat eaters of society. The patties may be bought pre-made or made fresh at home. To make them yourself, blend chopped and fried onion, Dijon mustard, cooked brown rice and seasoned dry bread crumbs with mashed firm tofu. Once combined into a patty by hand, pan-fry each in a frypan until browned.
- Scrambled tofu: If you don’t have the taste for scrambled eggs or eggs generally, you may like to substitute the recipe with cubed, firm tofu instead.
- Fillings: Firm, purred tofu may be used to create fillings for pasta shells, lasagna noodles, pastry dishes, and so on. For extra flavour blend the pureed tofu with jarred marina sauce, Italian dressing, chopped spinach or fresh ricotta cheese.
- Tofu fillets: Tofu fillets make the ideal alternative to meat fillets such as pork cutlets, fish or chicken fillets. To make, marinade Silken or Extra firm tofu overnight in a sauce of your choice. Then grill, barbeque or bake it for your evening meal.
- Tofu desserts: Instead of using fatty, creamy ingredients in dessert recipes, such as cream, or cottage cheese, may be substituted easily with soft tofu that offers less lactose, higher calcium and protein content.
- Dips: Silken tofu may be pureed with cream cheese, garlic, scallions and/or jarred roasted peppers to create a delicious dips! Serve with fresh vegetables or chips.
- Grilled tofu: When out for the afternoon at a barbeque, grilled tofu makes the ideal substitute for meat. Marinate the tofu in Italian dressing or stir-fry marinade, then grill on a vegetable grate as is or as a kebab.
