Friday, December 12, 2008

Tofu Chronicles

Well, my friends, I have something thoroughly thrilling to tell you: I love alliteration.

Actually, that’s not what I had to tell you, but I thought it would be nice to let you know that tidbit about me as well. Anyway, my thoroughly thrilling news is this: I cooked tofu for the very first time. And I didn’t ruin it. And I loved it.

You know me, forever lacking in good, healthy forms of protein (cheese just doesn’t always count, you know?) Additionally, I’ve tried to give blood twice in the last 4 months and have had low iron counts each time. I don’t think I’m anemic to the point of needing to go to the doctor, but I don’t know that it’s a good sign either. So I’ve been thinking and looking around for iron-rich and protein-rich foods, especially ones that I can add to my lunch salads. There have, as late, been a lot of chick peas in my life.

I’ve never even been a big tofu fan. It can be slimy and sometimes tasteless. Asian flavors are also not really my favorite—as I’m sure you can tell, I generally favor Italian and other Western cuisines, along with a serious love for tex-mex and Indian. I mean, I have a soft spot in my heart for cheap Chinese, but I don’t think that really counts. I’m obsessed with tom yum soup (spicy, lemongrass-y Thai soup) and some Vietnamese, but on the whole, Asian cuisines are sort of low on my list.

I tweaked a recipe of Heidi Swanson’s, from 101 Cookbooks, for caramelized tofu with Brussels sprouts. She called for pecans and I had none on hand, and I wasn’t making the entire dish anyway, so I just made the tofu. You essentially heat some oil (I used olive, like I do for almost everything) and brown the tofu. Then toss in some tablespoons of brown sugar and let it all caramelize. The tofu ends up golden and sweet. I’ll probably cook it a little longer next week when I make this again, so it is crispier. I used Nasoya organic super firm cubed tofu, so that was probably why I avoided the dreaded sliminess.

I am going to wrap this post up (I should probably be doing actual work while I’m in the office) with a request. Give me more tofu recipes? Please? I am eager to expand my newly found tofu skills!

1 comment:

pb said...

So I'm not sure anyone who has a choice to consume other things should try this, but I've been making a soup thats supposed to be 'white chili' but it really isnt chili at all coz it has nothing that goes in chili really. I've made various interpretations of it, one involving tofu. Basically I take a bunch of chicken broth and add it to slightly browned onions, garlic and sometimes cumin seeds, add some potatoes to cook in the broth, then add some source of protein (i've tried cooked chicken, flavored chicken sausages from the store as well as tofu on separate occasions), along with beans of some variety, pasta or veges as desired/available, and heaps of indian spices (masalas, salt, pepper) and cook for about 5-7 minutes. Pretty delicious and wholesome soup with yumminess but no achiness for angel!