Tofu - How do you cook it?
 

How do you cook your tofu?

I love the soft tofu in Korean tofu soup.

Oh, so many ways. I bake it, fry it, sautee it, dry it and then give it one of those treatments. I serve it in salads, omelettes and on and on. Tofu can be served in nearly every imaginable way. I use it every day in something or another, when I'm home anyway.

Tofu typically is part of the asian diet.

The soft variey is typically used for soups and some stir frys which tend to be heavy in sauce.

The hard kind is normally used in Laksa or vegetable stir frys.

I have used the soft variery to make grandma's beancurd or "mapo tofu" as well as asian soups.

You have to be careful not to cut the soft variety too small or it might break up into too small pieces.

My favorites:

mixed with the premade ma po tofu mixes from the Asian market (very very high in sodium, but tasty)

extra firm, cut in cubes and fried in butter

coated in cornstarch and deep fried

I also like to buy the pre-fried frozen deep fried pieces (which I can only find at the Asian markets) because no matter how hard I try I'm just not that good at deep-frying tofu.

Wow, after reviewing my list, all of these are incredibly unhealthy!

Plain tofu in a soup (such as diced in miso shiru) is probably how I least like it.

I always have three-packs of aburaage in the freezer (the ones crhptic mentions) as it's easy to slice from this and add to pretty much any vegetable dish you could make in a wok as well as making inarizushi skins with (another Korean favourite!)

But, if you have in mind commercially sold tofu blocks, then the question "how do you cook it?" for me always involves the process of wrapping up the block, putting a weight on top and leaving it to drain for at least an hour to firm up before I will do any actual cooking with it. This way it won't break up as ONLY_no_One describes.

Amongst the many, many ways I cook tofu there includes making it into fish burgers, ganmodoki and even adding it to matzoh balls (I don't use chicken fat).
I still haven't learned to make decent agedofu though.

Hiyayakko I'd never try without the very freshest tofu, but you don't really cook with it.

I tend to prefer the firm texture tofu - the soft stuff just doesn't sit right texture-wise with me.

Standard way to cook: marinate in a sauce (varies.. black bean paste is always good! anything with lots of flavour). Sautee with vegetables and noodles.

Unoriginal I know :)

Actually, when I said 'fried tofu' I was referring more to the chunks, pre-fried and then frozen...something like this or this or this. But I just googled the aburaage and it looks yummy too!

Speaking of inarizushi skins - amazingly, I found a can of it at the grocery store this week - the regular, mainstream grocery store (albeit on the "Asian food" aisle). I haven't used it yet, but I had to buy it just because I was so shocked to find it there.

Removing the extra water is a very important step. If I forget to do it ahead of time I will take a cheesecloth, wrap the tofu up, and squeeze the heck out of it several times. That will work in a pinch :)

Soondubu jjigae 순두부 찌 Is one thing I do with it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40726522@N02/3985505092/

I like to marinate the xtra firm version in tamari, ginger and scallions. Then we use it for stir fry or bake it for a snack.

Wirelessly posted (Nokia N97 / Palm TX: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D050; Blazer/4.3) 16;320x448)

ma po is the way to go... !!!

Disgusting stuff although I find it very useful for baiting mouse traps with.

My personal favorite cooking method: the bin....

Taiwanese Stinky tofu...a guilty and stinky pleasure...

Any place in the midwest we can try the stinky tofu? Where would you recommend?

I like my tofu cook this way
http://walkingtower.blogspot.com/200...kwa-adobo.html

Just the opposite, this is about the only way I do like tofu. A question for the experts: I've made miso soup at home, but don't know which kind of tofu to buy to add to it. Silken? Or the firmer tofu?

You need firm or extra firm.

Adobo!

For Japanese miso shiru, the silken tofu is very popular, but all kinds of firmness are used. If you like the tofu to break against your teeth and slither down your throat, go for the silken kind. If you want your tofu with a bit of bite, go for the firmer kind. It's entirely up to you.

I'm not a big tofu eater, but I have certainly found that all tofu is not created equal. Really fresh tofu is far different than what you generally find in a supermarket. Here in the Bay Area we have an excellent tofu company that you'll find selling at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. The company has it's factory in Oakland and many who have tried other tofu probably won't recognize some of their products as being the same thing.

As for textures and all ...it's amazing how important that is depending on what you're making. I have a recipe I seldom make (takes a while) for tofu tacos that's quite good, but it requires firm tofu to be frozen and then thawed before it's cooked in the taco seasonings. I tried skipping the freezing/thawing process once and it didn't work because the texture wasn't right. I'm no expert on tofu, but I do find it fascinating how dramatically the taste and texture can be changed through things like freezing/thawing and stuff.

Tell me about it! After pressing and draining a block of tofu today I then ground it, squashed it to combine it with a tablespoon of nagaimo (a very slimy yam) and then threw it repeatedly onto the side of a bowl.
Completely changed the texture so that they became deliciously firm yet light fried tofu dumplings.
I just finished off the leftovers by slicing them and including them in okonomiyaki... yum!

Tofu - How do you cook it?
 

A better title would have been "Tofu - How do you prepare it?" as many (perhaps most) preparations of Tfu do not involve any cooking. In fact I think cooking ruins tofu. Just my opinion.

Do you eat the tofu raw?

Making soy milk is a laborious process that requires cooking soy beans.

Once you have this, then yes, anyone can easily make or cook tofu with a suitable coagulant. It's kind of similar to how you make ricotta using milk, some yogurt and a drop of lemon juice. You need to cook it at around 70/80degrees Celcius for 20 minutes or so. I've had tofu at a restaurant that was cooked from soy milk at my table.

Is this tofu raw? I've never thought so, but it depends on your point of view.

If you can make your own tofu, or can get it where it's perfectly fresh and made well (such as the sort of place l'etoile described) then it would be a real shame to actually cook with it. This is the sort of tofu I'd use for the Hiyayakko dish I mentioned earlier.

Tofu from a tetrabrik packet, like the mori-nu brand, I think it's only palatable if you actually cook it further. That's probably why I don't rate it much when it has been diced into cubes and dropped into soups. I don't hate it, it's just a bit... meh.

And I really don't like the idea of really firm tofu eaten without further cooking, just the thought of that makes me gag. However, combine it with prawns, vegetables and egg white and fry or steam it and I'll be first in line for a taste.
(Ricotta is another good comparison, if you drain it too much it gets too firm and becomes a rather unpleasant solid cheese, which can only be redeemed with some creative cooking)

Simple, Don't eat it so don't cook it

Um....I would guess that the chances of finding it in a Chinese restaurant outside of the big cities (and accompanying suburbs) are very slim.

Even in the SF Bay Area, there are only a handful of restaurants who offer a version of it (it can be prepared and served different ways). Only one or two get it adequately "stinky" and savory :p

+1 ^

http://www.foodnut.com/i/Silver-Hous...Fried-Tofu.jpg

I like my tofu as meat replacement.
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/z...ables_tofu.jpg

Fried with salt and pepper usually. The best we ever made was simmered in maple syrup. Mmmm, tofu candy...

Soft or firm in soups like the aforementioned Korean soup, perhaps with some kimchee flating around, or in more Chinese-y hot and sour soup.

Broken up in a spicy ma po tofu style dish, with or without ground meat, but always with a nice kick of chili.

Agedashi, pressed dry, dusted with cornstarch and fried (as previously mentioned) then dipped in a nice dashi broth with some fish flakes, ginger and scallion.

Fried as above and served in any sauce of your choice (in my home it's often oyster sauce).

Ready fried then stuffed (with maybe ground shrimp or a pork filling) then steamed or fried.

Various goodies rolled into soften tofu skins, then steamed.

As the slightly sweet skins of inari sushi.

In pad thai, chow mein or other noodles.

Raw silken, with a splash of soy sauce, a drop of sesame oil and a grating of fresh ginger.

I see tofu in my near future... I'm headed to the store.

Squeeze the water out of it, marinade it in balsamic vinegar and worcestershire sauce, bread it, then pan fry it. Don't forget the salt and pepper (salt before you bread). Top with shredded parmesan cheese. Serve with an arugula salad (or with anything else you'd like).

Disclosure-this only works with medium-firm or firm tofu.

Put it in the microwave for about a minute then pour some soy sauce over it. Hot delicious and quick.

I'll be glad to prepare it any way imaginable, as long as someone else eats it.