Tofu is fantastic BUT it does need preparing and cooking properly. Badly cooked tofu can turn you off for life! The most important thing to remember about tofu is that it needs pressing before you prepare it (if you are using firm tofu, which is the most common in the UK). I usually buy Cauldron tofu (in the chiller cabinet, usually with the Quorn products in supermarkets).
To press - put a wad of kitchen roll or a clean teatowel on a plate, put the tofu on top, then more kitchen roll/teatowel and another plate. Put a weight on top (eg. tins of beans). Leave for a while - the water will drain out of the tofu. I usually leave mine for at least an hour.
There are several ways of cooking tofu - the important thing to remember is that it has little or no taste of its own and requires a lot of flavouring. A couple of my favourite ways to prepare it are:
- marinaded and baked: slice the tofu and marinade the slices for at least an hour, flipping the slices a couple of times. Marinades can be what ever you like, eg. lemon juice/garlic/black pepper; soy sauce/lemon juice/chilli sauce - the possiblilities are endless!
- scrambled: once the tofu is pressed, crumble it into bitesize pieces. There are literally hundreds of tofu scramble recipes: here is the way I do it most often. Fry an onion/red pepper/chilli/garlic in Frylight or a little olive oil. Add a teaspoon each of turmeric/cumin/curry powder and cook for a minute or two. Add the tofu and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Add a splash of soy sauce, cook and stir for another minute. Add a splash of lemon juice, stir and serve.
As I said, there are hundreds of variations - google tofu scramble/baked tofu and you will find dozens of recipes.
I like to freeze my tofu and then defrost it and press it - it gives a chewier texture.
Hope this helps!
XX
