Soccer Season Scrambled Tofu

With soccer practices and karate lessons and homework filling our evenings, the past six weeks felt like a whirlwind of activity. Not so much a whirlwind of creative recipe creation, but I thought other people might be interested in this highly-flavored version of my kids' favorite scrambled tofu with soy sauce. Steam a vegetable and some rice while cooking this and you have a simple healthy meal ready in under a half-hour. 

Soccer Season Scrambled Tofu

Oil for sautéing

1 medium or ½ large onion, chopped

Fresh ginger, grated, about 1 teaspoon

Garlic powder, several shakes (1/2 tsp)

Chinese Five spice powder, 2 shakes (1/8 tsp)

Ground coriander, several shakes (1/2 tsp)

Ground lemongrass, 2 shakes (1/8 tsp) 

2 lbs tofu, drained (I used extra firm, but medium would be fine)

¼- ½ tsp kosher salt (depending on how much soy sauce you use)

¼ cup dry vermouth

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2-3 tablespoons soy sauce

Small pour of fish sauce (1/2 tsp?) *** This ingredient is not vegetarian. Technically. ***

About 1/8 cup water

Heat oil in large skillet/dutch oven/wok over medium heat. (Note – it seems to me that tofu needs a little fat to taste hearty. I wouldn’t use a pan spray, but 1-2 tablespoons of oil.) Add onions to oil.  While onions are sautéing, add the ginger and dry spices.  Saute onions until about half-cooked, stirring. Crumble tofu in your hands and add to onion mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tofu starts to brown a bit (I turned up heat to medium high.) While tofu is cooking, mix the vermouth and other wet ingredients in a measuring cup. The water is just to dilute the strong flavors so there’s enough liquid to soak into all of the tofu without making the mixture too intense.  

Once the tofu has started to brown, whisk the vermouth/soy sauce mixture and pour over the tofu, stirring to mix flavors. Keep cooking/stirring as tofu continues to cook (about 10-15 minutes all together).

Serve over rice. Top with chopped green onion or some red bell pepper for color. Good served with steamed broccoli or green beans.

Tell me that's not meaty (Tofu Kebabs)

Tofu. It's so fast, so delicious - and yet, there is something elusive about cooking with it. I think the most common question people ask when they find out we cook vegetarian meals is, What do you do with tofu?  

I didn't fully get the tofu possibilities until a neighbor grilled marinated tofu for us a few years ago. Wow! And (cue choir) the kids loved it too! But it still took some practice to figure out how to get our tofu to not crumble into cottage cheese-like pieces and slide onto the barbecue grates. 

The secret: Give the tofu time to drain, and time to marinate.

Extra-firm firmness varies. Trader Joe's brand holds together well. Some people suggest freezing first, then thawing, to help get the water out. I think the frozen texture can be a little spongy, but for grilling I don't notice a difference when I made some of both in the same batch.

We like Asian-flavored marinade, but any marinade for chicken or fish should work. We usually serve grilled tofu without any additional sauce except soy sauce at home, but this peanut sauce is great, too. We brought it to our "food on a stick" themed dinner with neighbors a couple of weeks ago and it was a hit.

Drain and Marinate the Tofu

Open and drain 2 1-lb tubs of extra-firm tofu. (portion note: 1 lb is just enough for my family of 4 if we have a couple of sides, but with 2 lbs we will have leftovers. The picture below shows how much 2 lbs makes.) 

For kebabs, the cubes need to be pretty large, so slice each hunk of tofu once the long way (to make two rectangles). For grilling "steaks" slice the hunks twice the long way to make three rectangles the same size as the original hunk, but thinner.

Put a couple of layers of paper towels down on a cookie sheet with a rim on all sides. Put the slices of tofu on the paper towel, then a couple of more paper towels, then either another cookie sheet or a cutting board - something flat - on top of that. Weight the top of that with something heavy (a cookbook, some cans from the pantry, your laptop.) Leave tofu for at least an hour. If you're going to make kebabs, start soaking bamboo skewers now.

Discard the paper towels, drain the cookie sheet, and pat the tofu slices dry. If making kebabs, I like to cut and skewer before marinating. Keep the cubes pretty large - there's no muscle to hold these things on the sticks, so be gentle. Lay the skewered tofu back on the cookie sheet (or something with a rim) and pour marinade on generously. Allow to marinate at least an hour, more is better. If you have the opportunity, gingerly turn the skewers a couple of times while marinating.

Everyday Marinade

1/4 cup soy sauce (or tamari sauce)

1/4 cup sesame oil (half sesame, half canola is fine)

1/4 cup rice wine (or dry sherry)

optional: a few grates of fresh ginger root

Grill

Tofu doesn't need to be cooked the way meat does, so you want a medium-high heat to sear the outside and make nice brown grill lines. If you have a gas grill, preheat for about 15 minutes at 425 or 450 degrees.

Brush some oil on the grates. Have both tongs and spatula ready. Don't overhandle the skewers - let one side get nice and brown before turning.

Peanut Sauce

This peanut sauce was adapted by Tom from a Food Network recipe. Our version is milder for the kids.

Peanut Sauce with Coconut

3/4 cup canned coconut milk

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 tsp. mild yellow curry powder

1 tblsp. brown sugar

1 Tblsp. lime juice

1 tsp. canola oil

1 tblsp. soy sauce

Dash of sweet paprika (or cayenne if your diners are up for it.)

Use an immersion blender to mix all ingredients until creamy. Warm in microwave or warming oven and serve as a dipping sauce or pour over tofu kebabs.

Enjoy!

Tomatoes 2: Garam Masala with Tomatoes and Tofu

My neighbor, The Extraordinary Gardener, always suggests the best Indian recipes. When I wondered aloud, how am I going to use all these tomatoes for dinner this week?, she mentioned that she had just made a recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking, Chicken with Tomatoes and Garam Masala.

The seasonings below are taken exactly from the cookbook's chicken recipe but, except for the tomatoes, I changed up all of the other ingredients, substituting garbanzo beans and tofu for the chicken and adding zucchini. (steps are mine - I got lazy while hand-copying the recipe)

Interesting thing about Indian seasonings - you can change just a couple of the spices and end up with an entirely different flavor. We use garam masala a lot, but the blend of spices in this recipe gave a whole new dimension and richness. The cardamom pods and cinnamon are wonderfully aromatic while this is cooking.

Garam Masala with Tomatoes and Tofu

5 Tblsp. vegetable oil

3/4 tsp. whole cumin seeds

1 inch stick cinnamon

6 whole cardamom pods

2 bay leaves

1/4 tsp. whole peppercorns (can sub ground pepper if you hate chewing on the peppercorns like I do)

6-7 cloves garlic, minced

6 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped 

To peel the tomatoes, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop in whole tomatoes and let sit in the water for about 45-60 seconds. Peels will come off easily under running cool water.

1 package extra-firm tofu

1 (16 oz) can garbanzo beans drained and rinsed

1 medium zucchini, diced

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. cayenne

1/2 tsp. garam masala blend

Heat oil in dutch oven or other largish pan, medium heat. Add spices (cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, and peppercorns). Allow to warm/pop for 1-2 minutes until your kitchen smells like an Indian restaurant.

Meanwhile, in another pan, or on the grill, cook the tofu. I drained, tossed with some garam masala powder, salt and pepper, and cooked on the stovetop just until some of the moisture was gone and flavors mixed. Put aside.

Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute. Add the garbanzo beans and zucchini, cover and cook for about 5-7 minutes, until zucchini starts to change color and look cooked. Add the tomatoes and the cooked tofu. Cover and allow to cook another few minutes. Add the remaining seasonings, stir, and allow to cook another 1-2 minutes. Whole spices should be removed before serving.  

Serve with rice. (serves 4)

Tomorrow, we're trying Theresa's grilled pizza! Wish me luck.