You’re a healthy eater.
You can cook a mean stir-fry.
You’ve mastered home-made hummus. And you even cook the beans from scratch.
But there’s this embarrassing little glitch in your healthy eating repertoire.
You can’t cook edible tofu.
You used to think tofu was only for hippies. But now it’s all over the place in restaurants.
And you love it. That is, when you haven’t cooked it.
You know there’s a secret, but you haven’t found it.
Why can’t you cook tofu that doesn’t make you gag?
It's Easier Than You Think
The truth is, it’s easy. Tofu’s like a chameleon — taking on whatever flavors you surround it with.
But it’s delicate process.
Many people make a few huge mistakes that make the tofu taste like crap. Then they’re scarred for life.
But not you, you’re going to learn to master the fine art of tofu cooking.
And the best part? It takes less than fifteen minutes.
Let’s get started.
Foolproof Tofu by Jessica Blanchard
Even tofu skeptics can’t resist the smoky-sweet flavor of the tofu and the savory dried onions. I typically add a bunch of kale on top of the tofu at the end of cooking to make this the perfect topping for rice or a quick wrap.
Ingredients
16 oz of tofu
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of tamari, Bragg’s Amino Acids or soy sauce
2 tablespoons of mirin (Japanese cooking wine) or substitute 1 tablespoon maplesyrup/agave/sugar mixed into water
Dried onions
Pinch of black pepper
Squeeze of lemon
Optional: Bunch of kale, de-stemmed and coarsely chopped, water or veggie broth to steam-cook the kale.
Drain the water from the tofu package. Dry the tofu by wrapping it in dish cloths or paper towels. Press for a few minutes under a heavy object like a skillet orchopping board.
Chop the tofu down the middle, then slice it so you form thin flat slabs.
Heat skillet to medium high temperature, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. Lay tofu carefully in skillet, sprinkle with salt, then drizzle with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, one tablespoon of mirin (or maple sytup) then cook 5 minutes until brown.
Use a metal spatula to flip, carefully scraping the tofu so it doesn’t break.
Cook for an additional 5 minutes, sprinkling with remaining soy sauce and cooking wine. You decide how browned or blackened you’d like the tofu.
Toss a couple more times to brown on other sides.
If you’re adding the greens, add the kale and a splash of veggie broth and mirin. Cover and cook an additional 5 minutes.
Serve over brown rice with a squeeze of lemon.