eglamkowski's Journal: For Sol: reflections on the cooking of tofu

While you can always peruse my slashdot cookbook for tofu recipes, I find that I typically just wing it when it comes to cooking tofu. Here are some ideas based on my experience.

First of all, you need to pick a vegetable to cook with it. Bok choy or napa would be ideal, spinach also works quite nicely. Swiss chard would probably be good but I've never tried it. Kale is ok, but not great. You can experiment with various leafy greens here, but bok choy, napa or spinach should be your baseline against which to experiment.

To cook: start with some minced garlic and ginger, maybe some scallion or shallot or just plain old chopped onion. Stir fry until the onion begins to soften, then add your green vegetable. Cook until it starts to wilt, then add the tofu.

Next comes the spices, which obviously will be very personal. I tend to pick two or three from the following list on any given day: soy sauce, hoisin sauce, brown or yellow bean sauce, rice vinegar (or white vinegar), chili garlic paste, sugar. Add salt and pepper to taste. You may need to add a little bit of water, not more than 1/4 cup, less if you used soy sauce or vinegar.

Mix it all up real good, cover, and let cook for a couple of minutes.

Some other things you might want to try adding: sliced water chestnuts, snow peas, chopped carrot, mushrooms, bamboo.

As to which type of tofu, soft, firm, silky, I personally prefer firm purely because it tends to stay together better. Silky tofu always totally breaks apart on me so I avoid it, but other people can cook very successfully with silky. Soft is somewhere in between - I lose some chunks to disintegration, but others survive. Try each in turn to decide which one is for you.

If you find yourself with the option of getting dried, spiced tofu, that can be cooked in a very similar way, but you have more vegetable options to cook with it besides just leafy greens, particularly various Chinese gourds and squashes like opo. I've seen "oiler tofu" available but never tried it - you're on your own if you want to buy that.

Good luck :)

restaurant suggestions?

[lithron]

I know you posted this for Sol, but I'm nosy.

Can you suggest any chain restaurants that have decent tofu dishes? I've only had tofu once and it wasn't pleasant but I'm interested in trying it again.

Re:

[Shadow Wrought]

I know a lot of Thai restaurants have it, usually as a choice of ingredient in a dish (ie, beef, chicken, pork, or tofu). My wife makes a fried tofu that many a guest has enjoyed, but I still cannot stand the stuff.

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[eglamkowski]

I've never had thai tofu. I stick the chinese for tofu and thai for duck. Indian for lentils, while I'm at it.

Re:

[Shadow Wrought]

I have several friends who really like tofu in Thai food. Personally, I really like pad se ew with any of the meat options. And nice and hot, too!

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[eglamkowski]

PF Chang's does a decent mapo tofu, as does Lee's Golden Buddha, but I don't eat at many Chinese chain restaurants so I can't really speak to it much.

PF Chang's in Boston: 8 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116 [phone]

But you're in Georgia, right? There's a lot of good chinese restaurants in town that have good tofu dishes. But before I go off listing them let me get confirmation that you are in/near Atlanta.

Re:

[lithron]

Yeah, in/near Atlanta. I live in Gwinnett County, but I'm in Decatur two or three times a week. If I'm not mistaken there is a Golden Buddha on Clairmont Road, I'll have to try that place. Next time I hit up the PF Changs at the Mall of Georgia I'll try something with tofu in it.

If you think of other good places let me know

Re:

[eglamkowski]

The Golden Buddha restaurants aren't terribly authentic, and the one I went to recently up in Cumming put mushroom in their mapo tofu which was odd - I'd never heard of mushroom in mapo tofu before. So if you don't care for mushroom be sure to inquire before ordering it.

As for PF Chang's, I can't vouch for any of the other tofu dishes. They may or may not be good, but the mapo tofu should be ok. Experiment with the others at your discretion :)

Most of the best places are, of course, on Buford highway, jus

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[lithron]

Mostly I'm just interested in places with decent tofu. I'm not a vegetarian. I'm just interested in "new foods" (new to me, not to the rest of the world)