Tofu? ive never had it, whats it like?!
Answers: ive been veggie around 13 years and ive never tried it. i want to add it into my diet. i love tomato sauce based food. im a little afraid of trying new flavours, any recipes? thanks for your precious time in advance dudes n dudettes
Tofu generally has no flavor. It absorbs flavor from whatever you are cooking it in. I highly advise NOT frying it to where it gets brown or deep frying as they do in chinese takeout places. It gets tough on the outside. YUCK. I have made this many times...it is truly the only way to get my kids to eat it. And I really have tried other recipes...for example I made (what I think was awesome) homemade enchiladas with tofu...they threw it out. LOL! But anyhow, this one goes over big every time and it tastes great!!!
The original recipe called for fresh bread crumbs which i have done but it's more work. You just dry some slices of white bread in a low heat oven and then crumble them fine, mix with some parmesan cheese and tarragon and or marjoram.
I have also used packaged bread crumbs and really great are panko bread crumbs.
You need firm or extra firm tofu. Put tofu block between paper towels and press to get out as much water as you can.
Slice the tofu into about 3/4 inch slices. If it still feels really wet press slices a bit with more paper towels to dry them a bit more. Lightly beat egg...I use egg whites. Dip slices in egg and press into bread crumb mixture. The original recipe says to spray frying pan with cooking spray and brown on each side...I have done that but I do prefer to use a little safflower oil or peanut oil. I like the texture better.
Once all slices are fried...put aside on a plate..you can keep them warm in a low heat oven if you wish.
Now for the spread...I really cannot recall the exact measurments...I go by taste.
Mayonaise...not miracle whip...I prefer Hellmans
Soy sauce
Chopped garlic (or you can use garlic powder if you are not in the mood for chopping)
Mix well...
I prefer to make the spread before frying the tofu so the flavors mix well.
Now, you can either eat the tofu as is and dunk into the sauce or it makes a great sandwich. Put it on a nice soft sesame seed bun, spread with the mayo sauce, plop a slice of tomato...YUM. My daughter especially begs me to make this. It's great! If you try it I hope you enjoy!!
Generally its quite horrible and just like chewing bits of rubber! But iv had it in a lot of meals where it has really taken on the flavour of the dish which helps alot! (currys etc) I always find it helps if the pieces are small.
Well, I hate tofu, but if you're afraid of trying new flavors, you're in luck! Tofu tastes like... nothing. Or, more accurately, it tastes like whatever you cooked it with. So, cook it with some tomato sauce and it will taste like tomato sauce. I don't like it because it has the consistency of Jell-o. >.<
Tofu is soft and can melt in the mouth if cooked properly. I don't know why so many people hate it, but it's not bad.
Mapo tofu is a famous dish in China, it's very good.
You should try it, you may like it.
Try cooking tofu then put syrup and sago. If the Philippines, this is known as taho.
Tofu is made of soya beans, it is one of the most healthy food - high in vegetable protein, many kinds of vitamins but very low in calories. There are many different types of tofu: soft tender ones which contains higher % of water; slightly harder type, it is more solid and if not cooked well it would become tasteless and a bit chewy; another type is deep fryed tofu which tastes and looks quite differently. Apart from different type, there are many different ways of cooking them. You can stir and fry, stew, or put in soup. Generally speaking, slow cooking with strong source would give tofu a stronger taste as itself doesn't have too much - like soyabeans.
Why not have a try, tofu is my favarite food, noutricious and you won't put on weight.
fried tofu rice w/soysauce calamansi...yum yum..diet
i used to hate it but since being vegan i decided to try it again and i love it
i usually marinade it first, that helps, i use it in lasagna, stirfrys, stews, curries, its grouse xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
tofu can make a lot of dish!! especially chinese dish!! i very like fried tofu, sea weed soup with tofu, tofu with mushroom sos.............. all of them is greeeeeeeeeat!!!
If you've never had it before dont eat it plain! It put me off for a while! I like it soaked in soy sauce over night with a little bit of mirim, they i add it to stirfry. Its really good at soaking up flavours and goes well with the crunchy veg and noodles. I also use it to make cheesecake, subsitute the cream cheese for tofu- mixing it with a whisk of handblender. It sets nice and quickly and is healthier too which is good. Its also nice in curries as it soaks up all the spices and flavours. Finally i add it to stews as it acts allmost like dumplings if you handblend it and add herbs and pepper.
You can also buy pre-seasoned tofu like smoked and spicy salsa in supermarkets which is good as a quick meal! Hope these are ok. Happy cooking!
It has a very mild bean-like flavor. It's pretty bland by itself. It's pretty good when mixed with vegetables, spices and so on. The blandness is kind of a good thing because it seems to take on the flavor of whatever it is cooked with.
I first heard of it in the 1970s; we called it "bean curd." A Chinese lady in my neighborhood cooked with it and even ate it for breakfast with sugar on it. I thought her breakfast was kind of weird, but I got to like the bean curd/tofu cooked in Chinese dishes.
When I became a vegetarian in the 1980s, I started cooking tofu a lot. I prefer the firm kind over the "silky."
A lot of people have really strong opinions about tofu; which I think is pretty funny.
Don't listen to the people telling you it's aweful
It MAY take a bit to aquire a taste for it, but it's nice..
If you like chineese food, I reccomend trying it for the first time at a chineese restraunt.. it may be called "bean curd" on the menu..
tofu has (depending on the type) textures ranging from soft cheese texture to almost meaty chewiness (if it was frozen).. it generally has no flavor of it's own.. which is a GOOD THING.. it soaks up the yummy flavor of sauces that you cook with it..
If you like pastas and tomato sauce, you CAN make a lasagana with a tofu filling instead of ricotta.. Get Extra firm tofu in the produce section of your supermarket. It should be a block that's sitting in a bit of "water" in the package..
Drain well.. gently press to get as much water out as possible
crumble so it looks like feta cheese
Put in nonstick skillet and simmer it with seasonings like italian seasoning, black pepper, Nutritional yeast flakes (available at health food stores.. trust me.. get some.. they are tofu's best friend) a non-meat-based "poultry flavored" seasoining.. onion and garlic powder.. a bit of soy sauce for flavor/salt.
when the moisture is mostly evaporated and the tofu has changed texture a bit, it's almost done taste to see if it has enough flavor.. add more if desired
then use this "scrambled tofu" to make a lasagna.. I suggest combining it with vegemeat crumbles, a bit of real cheese (if you want).. and PLENTY of sauce (that's how I like it :))
Good luck..
BUt if you like chineese, I reccomend trying tofu at a chinese restraunt..
if you're not super fond of it at first, keep trying.. it's not too hard to aquire a taste for it, especially if you use your favorite seasonings!
I'll tell you my tofu story:
The first time I tried it, we had a couple Japanese home stay girls at our place and they made us a Japanese meal one day.
In Japan, food is very simple. They really like to taste the actual food and not cover up the flavour with sauces, spices, etc. So, they just eat tofu plain with some soy sauce on top.
We'd never seen or heard of it before. Just this square block of white stuff on a plate with soy sauce drizzled on it. Didn't look very appetizing.
"What is it?"
"Tofu."
Didn't sound very appetizing. I tried it... It was really gross tasting to me. I couldn't even swallow it. Neither could the rest of my family. Needless to say, the Japanese girls had a very surprised look on their faces. I'm sure they never expected such a reaction to something they eat regularly.
See, at the time, I ate the typical N. American diet. Basically anything that wasn't covered in salt, sugar, sauce, etc. tasted like nothing to me. I put steak sauce on my steak, BBQ sauce on other meat, ... HP Sauce, ketchup... salt pepper... tartar sauce, couldn't eat anything plain.
So, when I switched to a healthy diet... man, everything tasted like... nothing. Basically nothing. So bland that there just was very little distinguishable taste. I knew from what others eat, such as my Japanese friends, that they find a lot of flavour in very bland food... so it must be me I thought. I went completely off salt, sauces, msg, colours, etc. all natural... and it took about a year but one day I ate something and was like, Wow! I can actually taste something! Hey, this carrot actually tastes... good... wow. So, I started going back and trying all these foods that I didn't like or thought tasted like nothing and found they all tasted very different. I tried tofu again, and wow, a totally different taste from the first time. It was good enough to eat plain, with nothing on it. I was amazed. I could drink herbal tea, which I used to think tasted like hot water, and all these subtle nuances washed over my tastebuds...
Anyway, it was amazing (to actually taste things for what they were), and I'm always a little sceptical of people who think tofu is totally gross and think they must be like I once was.
The end.
PS Tofu is just bean water that has hardened. So, yeah, tastes like plain soymilk.