During one of my last visits to the grocery store, I bought a package of firm tofu. I like tofu, but it's not my favorite thing in the world.
As a vegetarian, I feel like I should know how to properly cook at least one tofu dish. So I've scoured my favorite food blogs to find tofu recipes that aren't too difficult and sound flavorful. Well, I've found a few, but I am still wary of trying any of them. My trepidation no doubt springs from my one former attempt at cooking with tofu.
My mistake: I bought the wrong type of tofu. I should have bought the firm tofu; instead I picked up the first package that read tofu. Who knew that there were different types of tofu? My tofu was the silken type, which is best used in smoothies and more liquid dishes (like tofu scrambled eggs).
The consistency of silken tofu is akin to mucus or silly-putty. Why anyone would eat silken tofu is beyond this veggie girl. Firm tofu, on the other hand, makes sense to me. You can slice it or dice it and it holds its shape. No matter if it's grilled or fried, tofu has no real flavor of its own, so it takes on the flavor of whatever it is cooked alongside.
For those of you who may not know what tofu is, sit back and learn. Tofu is bean curd - fascinating, right? It's made from coagulated soy milk, from which the curds are formed into blocks - this knowledge is courtesy of our friends at Wikipedia. Tofu is nutritionally dense. It has no saturated fat or cholesterol, and is high in iron and protein. The protein count does vary from one type of tofu to another. Firm tofu has more protein than soft/silken tofu.
Most of the recipes I've read have said to toss the tofu (this would be firm tofu) with a mix of spices or a marinade. Grilling tofu looks like a lot of fun, but sadly I have no grill. Baking or pan frying are probably my safest bets.
Living in Athens, I've been exposed to tofu more than I have at home. This makes sense because, well, Athens has a large vegetarian and vegan population. This makes local menus much more diverse than restaurants elsewhere. Next time you decide to try one of the local restaurants uptown, give a glance at the vegetarian options because these Athenian cooks know what they're doing. What's on your plate?
- Elizabeth Lundblad is a junior studying journalism and a reporter for The Post. Have any good or bad memories of working with tofu? Send them to her at el246506@ohiou.edu.
3 Culture
Elizabeth Lundblad
