Cooking with tofu - some questions

[Anonymous]

I'm making a tofu stir fry this week, I found an easy recipe. A lot of the recipes I found called for using a bit of corn starch. I have never cooked with corn starch before, I assume it is there to absorb moisture.

Is corn starch okay to use? Is it "natural" or is there a better alternative for future recipes?

Feel free also to post easy tofu recipes. I am a FT WOHM so I prefer to make stir fries that use frozen vegetables, that way I can make them closer to the end of the week and not have to worry about veggies spoiling them, plus it is less chopping etc. I am planning on marinading the tofu for several hours in a simple sauce of soy sauce, lemon juice, and grated ginger and then just stir frying the frozen veggies and tofu.

Also interested in other recipes. I bought extra firm tofu, they also had firm, no idea the difference!

[Anonymous]

It's a thickener - makes the sauce less watery.

[Anonymous]

If you want to pan fry the tofu this is the best and most tasty way to do it, though not the most healthiest:

-Very thoroughly drain the tofu by wrapping it in paper towels and then putting it between two plates with a heavy cookbook on top.

-Once it is drained, cut into whatever slices you want.

-Dredge in a mix of egg white and water, then coat with corn starch

-Pan fry in a small bit of oil

It is delicious this way!

[Anonymous]

The corn startch is used to coat the tofu, so that when you fry it the tofu has a crispy, golden outer shell.

Be sure to drain the tofu thoroughly before slicing and cooking it, or you will have a mushy mess. To do this, you must first drain out the water from the package, then wrap the tofu block in several layers of paper towels. Put it on a plate and let the moisture pull out of the tofu for an hour or two (you can do this before you leave for work and just keep it in the fridge). Then, the tofu will be in the correct condition to slice and fry.

Toss in cornstartch to coat before frying.

[Anonymous]

17:59 here again, Once you have drained/tossed/fried the tofu, THEN you can marinade it for flavor, and finally, add it back into the stir fry.

If you do it the way you listed you will have a nasty, slimy mess. Tofu needs to be properly drained and dry before it can be fried, then season after frying.

[Anonymous]

Frying tofu is easy to screw up. I quit doing it. When I am prepping veggies, i pt some hoisin or teriyski on the tofu and bake it in the oven for 30 min instead.

[Anonymous]

Have you tried making it with soft tofu? You'll have to go to asian grocery stores, since all the tofu I've seen in local supermarkets are all firm/very firm types (they also taste terrible).

Tofu comes in silken soft/soft/medium/firm/very firm degree of firmness, aka water content. (hence all those tips to dry/squeeze out water).

You have to be very careful with silk/soft tofu, but they're amazing fried if you can batter them without crumbling them.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. I was planning on draining the tofu before work with the heavy book. I may not have time to marinade the tofu in sauce, is that okay? I can just toss the sauce in with the stir fry.

[Anonymous]

FYI, corn starch is a starch made from corn, much like flour is made from wheat. It's natural and as healthy as any other starch/thickening agent.

When making a stir fry, take the tofu and drain. I use a small holed colander or steamer, put the tofu in, then a small plate on top and a heavy can on top and leave it in the sink to drain. I don't bother with the paper towels. Just before browning, I cube the tofu, then dip in water and then dredge in cornstarch. Then pan fry (you don't need much oil for this) until you have a nice crispy golden brown coating. The tofu is then ready to add to the stir fry. You don't want to marinate the tofu. While you want to marinate meats for stir fries so that the meat absorbs the flavors, you don't do this with tofu. The skin will hold the tofu together and give it a good texture much like something that was breaded and deep fried, but much lighter. When you stir fry add the tofu, the cornstarch will absorb a small amount of the flavors and lightly season the tofu. Any more than that and you will soften the skin and you lose the texture (the point of the dredging and pan frying). It will taste fine without marinating. Just make sure to get the right favor in the stir fry sauce.

[Anonymous]

I find frying kind of messy and prefer to grill tofu. But either way, cooking the tofu before adding it to anything helps create a sturdier food to work with. It would otherwise be prone to becoming a mushy mess - think scrambled egg consistency - if handled aggressively, as in a stir fry.

To grill: Divide 1 block of extra firm tofu into four pieces and drain well on paper towels. Once drained, cut into medium-sized cubes and coat lightly with olive oil (I use the spray kind). Then grill (we have a gas grill on our range top - I've never done the charcoal thing). I also like to cut up a lemon and grill that alongside. If you store the two together, the tofu picks up a little of the "lemon-iness".

Grilled tofu is a great base for summer meals. Serve with muhummara, romesco or similar sauce. Or drizzle with olive oil, balsalmic reduction. Or, toss into panzanella salad. You can also toss it into stir-frys or noodle soups.

[Anonymous]

So, just as a different point of view, I am way too impatient/lazy to leave my tofu under a heavy item to draw out excess moisture so I just fry it straight from the package after draining the water out. Sometimes it'll stick to the pan, sometimes it'll break into pieces and not stay in cubes... but it still tastes fine.

Straining the tofu will make it a little more spongier and less mushy, but there's nothing inherently wrong with slightly mushy tofu either. In fact, some dishes are intended to be worked with soft tofu.

[Anonymous]

I cook a lot of tofu. I do not bake or fry them, but then I do not mind them alittle broken. I boil the tofu for 5 minutes and drain them before adding them to stir fry or sauce. This process makes the tofu taste much fresher.