Tofu question

dani21496

dani21496

Cathlete
I LOVE the tofu in the salads at Noodles & Company www.noodles.com.

So I tried to buy some tofu and stir fried some myself at home. It was squishy and slimey and yucky!! What am I doing wrong? Why doesn't it taste as good as when I order it from a restaurant?

Thanks in advance!!

:)
 
Here's an excellent recipe I got from a friend: slice extra firm tofu, and put in bowl where you've mixed sesame seed oil, (don't need much), terriaki sauce, soy sauce, and garlic. Let this marinate a bit while you heat your pan, make sure its VERY hot, then add the tofu and the mixture, fry until crispy.

The key to crispy tofu is a very hot pan.

Then you can eat the tofu any way you wish. I like it on nutty, seed bread w/some tomatoes, olives and sprouts! YUM! :9
 
It also helps to wrap the tofu in a cloth napkin or towel and put something kinda flat and heavy on top (a 2 1/2 lb plate?)to press some of the water out.
 
Try extra firm tofu as Mindi suggested. Also "press" the water out of it while you're doing something else (like chopping the vegetables). Wrap the tofu in a clean kitchen towel. Put it in a colander, stack a plate or something flat on it, & then weight it down with something heavy like a large can of tomatoes.

Give it at least 10 minutes & then slice & dice as you please. If I'm going to use it in a salad or add to a stir-fry, I don't flavor the tofu before I saute it in a non-stick skillet with a little peanut or olive oil. Let the tofu get a little color on it before you turn it.

Baked tofu is also great in salads. Marinate the tofu before baking at 400 until golden.

This is from Deborah Madison ("I Can't Believe This is Tofu" & "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone").

Debra
 
Sorry, I hope you don't mind in I butt in and ask a question. What does tofu taste like? I personally don't know anyone that eats it to ask. Thanks.
 
Oh I like that baked Tofu idea! I'll have to try that!

Tofu kinda tastes like whatever you marinate it in or mix it with, it aborbs the flavor of whatever you choose.
 
>Sorry, I hope you don't mind in I butt in and ask a question.
> What does tofu taste like? I personally don't know anyone
>that eats it to ask. Thanks.

I've only had it at Noodles in a Salad and it had the teryaki flavor. It was crispy too. Very good.

Here's something I got from http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Tofu

"Tofu is very high in protein and has almost no flavor of its own. This is what makes it versatile; it takes its flavor from whatever is added to it — marinating is a popular way of flavoring tofu. Tofu can be made to taste like cheese, pudding, eggs, bacon, etc. Furthermore, the texture of tofu can be altered to match the above dishes. Tofu's texture is altered by draining, freezing, pureeing, and cooking"
 
You probably used the wrong type of tofu. Asceptically packaged tofu, like Mori-NU, is great for blending to make puddings, dips and such, but awful for a lot of other uses. There is a local chinese restaurant that I ate at once that uses this type of tofu for its stir-fries. All I can say is "yuk! It seems almost "coagulated" to me.

For stir-frying, baking, scrambled tofu, etc., use the tofu that comes in a plastic tub with water (Tree of life also makes some that comes in a shrink-wrapped package with no water, it is the same). It holds its shape better. As others have suggested, you can also wrap it in a towel and set it on a plate with another plate on top and a heavy kettle or a couple of cans of beans or whatever on it to make it even firmer.

You can also make tofu firmer (and good for things like chilis) by freezing it, then squeezing the water out when it thaws. I don't even know if you can do that with the asceptically packaged stuff.
 
I just have to chime in and say this. If you are heating the pan really hot, be sure it isn't a nonstick pan. Teflon emits a really nasty gas when heated to high temps and breathing it would sabatoge our good work to live a healthy life. I have birds and they would all be dead in a matter of seconds if I overheated teflon cookware, so I have to be really careful about that. I posted this on another site where someone had a recipe that said to heat a nonstick pan really hot before adding the food. After I posted someone else posted that they had trouble breathing for some time after heating the pan like that. Just a little something to keep in mind.
 
Ducky! Thanks so much for that info! I'll definitely use a different pan!

Kathryn, I checked and it WAS Mori-NU, extra firm tofu I was using. I'll be on the lookout for the other type you mentioned. Thanks so much!

:)
 
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