Well, I did it! I cooked with tofu!
Looky here – this is how it looked before I put it into the stir-fry:
Okay, so, I’m NOT an expert on cooking with tofu AT ALL, but I did want to share a few things I learned — all of this stuff was totally new to me:
1. Kinda the same way that cheese is made from various milks, a “curd” is made from soymilk and that “curd” is tofu. See, had I know that before, I probably wouldn’t have been so scared to try it. And yeah…I realize that I’m probably the last person ever to learn this. 🙂
2. I learned all about the different varieties of tofu: extra firm, firm, soft, and silken. It’s pretty easy to tell from those names what you’ll be getting with each one. Silken is very soft and creamy. Soft is the middle ground between firm and silken (think sorta like ricotta cheese), and firm and extra firm…well they are…firm. For my stir-fry, I used the “extra firm”.
3. Tofu is really good for you. As mentioned on La Fuji Mama’s Tofu Primer: “Tofu is rich in protein, unsaturated fat, and an excellent source of calcium, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids. Tofu is also cholesterol and lactose free.”
4. Before I cooked my tofu, I “pressed” out the excess liquid that it came packaged in. I am SO glad one of my readers (Lindsey at Spoon Saga) told me to do this because I had no clue. But because she mentioned it, I did some googling to figure out what this meant. Here’s what I did: I took the block of tofu out of the package/liquid and put it in my flat bottomed colander in my sink (you could just put it on a plate too), then, I put a clean plate on top of the tofu and then on top of that plate, I put something with a bit of weight – for me, this was a smallish canister I have. I let it sit like this for about an hour and it squeezed out the extra liquid from it. Easy!
5. Crisping up the edges first was a smart move. I pan fried my cubes in a tiny bit of olive oil and seasoned them with a bit of salt and pepper. By doing this, I think they were better able to stand up to being tossed with the veggies and I think my family wasn’t as freaked out about trying it.
- I bought one of those big bags of Birds Eye Oriental Stir-Fry.
- I pressed the tofu as I mentioned above and cut it into bite-sized cubes. In a non-stick pan, I heat a bit of olive oil and cooked the tofu (seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper) until all the edges were crispy and nicely browned. Then, I added about half of one of the teriyaki sauce packets, combined it with the tofu and cooked it for another 3-5 minutes. Then I moved the tofu to a bowl.
- In that same pan that was used for the tofu, I heated a tiny bit more olive oil and added all the vegetables and cooked them according to the directions on the package. Then I added the teriyaki sauce and combine it with the veggies.
- Last, I gently tossed the tofu with the vegetables and dinner was served! We served this with some brown rice.
4 of our 5 family members ate this dinner (one was at work). Everyone who ate it said it was good. Mattie (age 9) and I loved it and we can’t wait to have something else with tofu. David said it was really good too, although I think I was more enthusiastic about it then he was. And Wellie enjoyed it, although I think she’s not real thrilled with having stir-fry lately (I think there was a while there that I made it too often and she’s totally burned out on it).
Overall, I think it was a good experience and I can definitely say I am not scared of tofu any longer.
If you are curious about my first time eating tofu – which happened last month – read my post here.
Sarah says
I spend the summers on an island. About this time of year, we begin to eat down our freezer and discovered a giant bag of those Birds Eye Oriental Vegetables. Since Birds Eye didn’t offer a recipe for those veggies and tofu, I had to find this recipe. We are big tofu fans. I browned mine as you did with the addition of Chinese Five Spice a favorite with tofu. Though I “never” use the sauce with veggies it is delicious on the tofu. Thanks for recipe. Have you tried tofu other ways in the last eight years?
Fuji Mama says
Just saw this post! Congrats on taking the leap into cooking with tofu! 🙂
Vera says
I must say that's really impressive for a first-timer! Love to see more tofu stuff in future 😉
MaryMoh says
Well done for cooking such a lovely tofu dish. I love to cook tofu. It's healthy and delicious. Keep cooking more tofu dishes 😀