tofu

Tofuture Tofu Press

February 23, 2017 by Tofu Temptress Leave a Comment

I never thought I’d invest in a tofu press to be honest with you. It just seemed a bit posh and seriously, what could it achieve that a pile of books and a couple of tea towels couldn’t? Well, quite a lot, as it turns out.

The logo gets pressed into the tofu

I picked up my Tofuture tofu press at a recent vegan festival as I’m always in a buying mood at these events. There’s just something about everything surrounding you being suitable for vegans (SFV) that makes me open my wallet and, well, keep it open all day. The nice lady at the stall said that she’d recommend pressing the tofu for about four hours in the fridge for the best results. After I took it home, one morning I got up, put the tofu in for the morning and was impressed how much liquid had come out. It was kind of funny seeing the logo pressed into the top, but I can’t deny the effectiveness.

The bands on the side seem really strong

Also, when you’re pressing tofu the old fashioned way, you have to make room on the counter for it and then after you’ve wrapped it in tea towels you precariously balance heavy books and cans of beans on top of it. It’s also advisable to turn it over halfway through and maybe change the towels. I always managed to get my tofu block all lopsided using this method, which made it more difficult to slice afterwards.

So, with this handy little gadget, you basically just pop the tofu block in the tray, pull down the lid with the super-strong elastic bands and stick it in the fridge and forget about it. It really couldn’t be easier.

Once I’d pressed the tofu, I cleaned out the main bottom part of the try that catches the water. I thought it would make a great wee marinating dish. See, most of the time when I’ve marinated tofu before, it can be a bit tricky to find a container that is the right shape. I was glad to discover that popping the cubed tofu into the tray worked really well. And because the press had been so efficient at squeezing out the water, I reckon the tofu absorbed even more flavour from the marinade than usual.

Baked, marinated tofu can make a great ‘meat replacement’ on a plate full of veggies. It’s also good to pop in wraps with some salad or have at a buffet table. Tofu is mega versatile (see my article here) and the Tofuture tofu press makes preparing and marinating your own just that bit easier.

November 15, 2016 by Tofu Temptress Leave a Comment

Tofu can be a rather misunderstood foodstuff. It’s viewed as bland, though if prepared properly it can be one of the most flexible, healthy and tasty ingredients you could find. The thing about tofu is it absorbs flavour, which means it doesn’t have a strong flavour of its own. That’s the key. I once prepared some baked tofu for a little buffet party at home and one of my friends remarked ‘How did you get tofu to taste so good? I thought it always just tasted of nothing!’ The answer is marinating, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Tofu (also known as bean curd) is made from the milk of soy beans, using a process a bit like cheese making. It’s a complete protein and full of the good stuff like calcium and iron, so although there have been some people not keen to eat soy, scientifically speaking, there’s no reason not to. In fact, there’s evidence it may play a part in reducing the risk of breast cancer.

There are two main types of tofu easily available here in the UK. One is firm (or extra firm) tofu and the other is soft, or silken, tofu. They can be used for all sorts of exotic, lovely meals, but I’m just going to cover the basics here.

Firm tofu is available from the refrigerated section in your supermarket. It’s also available from health food stores. It’s stored in water to retain freshness, so it needs to be drained before you use it. Once you drain it, for best results you’ll want to press it. The reason for this is that tofu’s a bit like a sponge, so when you press it, then marinate it, it’ll absorb all the lovely flavours and taste great. There are commercial tofu presses out there, which also double as marinating dishes, which looks very swanky to me. So far, I’ve always gone for the wrap-tofu-in-two-clean-tea-towls-and-stick-some-heavy-books-and-cans-of-beans-on-top method. If you’re a bit rough round the edges like me, you’ll want to do that for about half an hour on one side then flip the tofu over and let it be pressed for another half an hour. One of my favourite marinades is a mixture of balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and thyme. I chop the tofu into cubes and let it marinate for as long as I can, again, flipping over the pieces halfway through. You can make up whatever marinade you like, be it spicy, herby or whatever. Once the tofu is marinated you can bake it in the oven to make a great meat replacer that can go with veggies or in a sandwich or stir fry. All that being said, I don’t always press the firm tofu. Sometimes, if I’m making a spicy soup like this one, I like the calmness of unflavoured tofu to counterbalance it. It’s very much up to you.

Silken tofu can also be found at some supermarkets, but on the shelf. Again, other varieties may appear in different spots in your health food store. This tofu is much softer and has a much greater moisture content and is therefore far more delicate to handle. Some restaurants manage to serve it successfully with something yummy poured over the top, but to be honest, in my house, it gets blended 99% of the time. You can make everything from chocolate mousse to mayonnaise with blended silken tofu as your base, and there’s even a fab recipe for cookies that uses it, which I love. Again the flexibility is its main strength and if you thought you had to give up creamy sauces and desserts when going vegan, don’t worry, silken tofu comes to the rescue! You can even make ice cream out of it. It’s a great alternative to sour cream too (mmm, burritos…) and the great thing is that ALL the traditional recipes that use dairy are made infinitely healthier if you substitute tofu and taste just as great! Have a look at your old recipe books and see what you can veganise with tofu, or check out some online recipes here.

Miso, veggie, tofu and noodle soup

November 5, 2015 by Tofu Temptress 1 Comment

This soup is healthy, tasty, comes together in a short space of time and fills you right up. As the nights grow darker and often colder too, one’s mind naturally turns to comforting, warming soup. To be honest with you though, I make this at any time of year ’cause it’s so easy and yummy.

The miso paste I used for this was the stuff out of Tesco, but Sainsbury’s do a nice one and there are various brown rice misos you can get from health food shops. Whatever one you choose, the rule of thumb is generally one tablespoon of miso paste to 500ml liquid (in this case, vegetable stock). Have a play around with different ones and see which one you like best. Miso paste is generally with the Asian foods, or sometimes next to speciality ingredients in supermarkets.

You can also add any veg you like really – this is a really flexible recipe. Beansprouts would work well in place of noodles if that takes your fancy and really any green veg from cabbage to broccoli would be a winner here. Have fun!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons miso paste

1 red pepper, sliced thinly

1 onion, sliced into half moons (top and tail, cut onion down the centre, then slice up lengthways)

1 tablespoon of fresh ginger, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1-2 bunches of pak choi, roughly chopped

1 block of firm tofu

2 vegetable stock cubes (to make 1 litre of stock)

2 handfuls of mange tout

1 handful of kale

Blue Dragon soy sauce is clearly labelled

2 or 3 spring onions

A packet of flat rice noodles (2 servings)

3 tablespoons soy sauce

Here’s how I do it:

Spoon your miso paste into a large pot (one that can take at least a litre and a half, to cater for all your lovely chunky ingredients).

Add the pepper and onion, garlic and ginger and put on to heat at a low temperature. Mix it all around and pop in the chopped stalks of pak choi (we’ll add the leaves a bit later.)

Pop your stock cubes into a measuring jug, boil a litre of water in a kettle and pour over to dissolve your two stock cubes. If the mixture in the pot is sizzling, just add a splash of your liquid.

While boiling and dissolving is going on, drain your tofu and press most of the moisture out of it over a sink. Transfer it to a chopping board and cube it with a sharp knife.

This is easily done. Just turn it on its long edge and cut down the middle. Now, lay it flat and cut four times lengthways and three times across.

Now it’s time to add the dissolved stock to the pot, along with the tofu. Add in the kale, mange tout, leftover pak choi leaves and spring onions at this point and give it all a good stir.

Give it five to ten minutes to let the veg soften and the tofu to absorb the flavours.

Add in the flat rice noodles (breaking them apart as you do so with your hands) and the soy sauce. This is the time to stir again and then give it a taste. (If it’s too salty for you, add some agave nectar or maple syrup if you have some and that should mellow it down.)

Leave for a bit so the flavours can be absorbed

Although the soup is now ready to serve, sometimes the flavours really start to come through after you’ve left it for a while, so this is a good one to make in advance. Also, the liquid can soak into the tofu and veg over time, so you may need to add a bit more stock/water when you heat it up after leaving it for a bit.

Enjoy!

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