Toadfish Monastery

I eat cheese and eggs, which makes me an ovo-lacto-vegetarian. I also will eat seafood, which we decided here makes me also a pisce-vegetarian. So if you wanna eat bacon, you could be a porci-vegetarian?!

Tofu is not easy to get to love if you've had bad tofu. But once you have good tofu, you can really crave it. Like er... well, any thing else. 

Ayuh, tofu is much-maligned due to people trying to use it as a meat substitute, which it does poorly because it doesn't have the taste or texture of meat*.  It's very nice when it's just being tofu and used in traditional or fusion recipes.

The stuff has very little flavour, so paired with western cooking techniques that add very little flavour, it's bland and chalky.



_{*ok, so I've suggested using this chickpea tofu as a hot dog substitute, but for that it only has to be a reasonable facsimile of the the bits you wouldn't want to eat anyways (i.e. it doesn't matter if it tastes like arse, that's the point!).  Tofu scramble tips for those who swear by 'em; it's been years since I tried one but I swear at 'em as I'm a marginal fan of eggs to start with. Paneer is a different story, as it's not very cheesy for a cheese to start with (doesn't melt).}

What people tend to forget is that there is many different types of tofu.

I can't stand the really white kind, the one that looks and taste just like hard boiled egg-whites...
If it's a little courser it's fine though and Mapo tofu (not a vegetarian dish) is one of my all-time favourites!
The dried yellow kind of tofu that comes in flaky sticks is the one I like best with soups and vegetables when cooked its texture is still chewy and firm (unless you over cook it of  cause).

That bean-curd stick stuff?  It's good, like you say it's great in soups and hotpots.  I've tasted tofu jerky based on that stuff that was also pretty tasty, albeit no match for dried dead animal matter .

Quote from: Agujjim on February 10, 2010, 03:51:34 PM
Ayuh, tofu is much-maligned due to people trying to use it as a meat substitute, which it does poorly because it doesn't have the taste or texture of meat*.  It's very nice when it's just being tofu and used in traditional or fusion recipes.

Texture-wise, there are several variants of tofu that have a greatly different texture from the greyish-white blocks we are probably most aquainted with here in the western hemisphere. Deep-fried tofu has a much stringier and chewier texture, for example, not to mention frozen and dried tofu. I've seen some all-vegetarian mapo dofu recipes that use deep-fried and ordinary tofu in order to get an interesting contrast of textures.

Speaking of fake meat my wife and I found a way to make black eye white bean patties these past days. She found a recipe for buñuelos (which back home are usually made with corn flour and grated cheese) that used eggs and no cheese and the beans. After some experimentation trying to fry them we added cheese but more importantly we grilled the mass in a pan before frying them. The result is something that looks like breaded meat and has good flavor. The recipe would be like this:

After leaving the beans in water for at least 24 hours and washing them mill the beans with a cup of water. Add eggs (for a pound of beans we used 3 eggs), a cup of corn flour and a pound of grated cheese (we use standard mozzarella). Add a bit of salt and sugar for flavor.

Once you have an uniform mass, grill it in a pan to cook it then take the grilled patties and fry them (we used olive oil but you can use any kind).

Quote from: Lindorm on February 13, 2010, 10:05:57 AM
Texture-wise, there are several variants of tofu that have a greatly different texture from the greyish-white blocks we are probably most aquainted with here in the western hemisphere. Deep-fried tofu has a much stringier and chewier texture, for example, not to mention frozen and dried tofu. I've seen some all-vegetarian mapo dofu recipes that use deep-fried and ordinary tofu in order to get an interesting contrast of textures.

Ayuh, even tofu-haters usually like fried tofu, especially tofu puffs (which are more oil and air than tofu ).  I'm a big fan of soft tofu in soups and hotpots - I had soon dubu chige for dinner tonight (soft tofu in a slightly spicy broth with egg, kimchi and seafood; the place I usually get it uses clams and pork). 

I have one vegetarian friend who has a horror of tofu (mostly texture); I'll have to get her to try some of the other variations.

Quote from: Agujjim on February 14, 2010, 04:58:14 AM


Ayuh, even tofu-haters usually like fried tofu, especially tofu puffs (which are more oil and air than tofu ). 

Yup. I am not really a fan of them after an encounter at a cheap sushi place where they were of the "cold, rancid, grease-blob-variety". Sort of put me off from most sorts of fried tofu from then on...

Quote from: Agujjim on February 14, 2010, 04:58:14 AM
I'm a big fan of soft tofu in soups and hotpots - I had soon dubu chige for dinner tonight (soft tofu in a slightly spicy broth with egg, kimchi and seafood; the place I usually get it uses clams and pork). 

Sounds really yummy! You would'nt happen to have a recipe on hand?

Quote from: Agujjim on February 14, 2010, 04:58:14 AM
I have one vegetarian friend who has a horror of tofu (mostly texture); I'll have to get her to try some of the other variations.

There are some fermented tofus than have really interesting and unusual textures and mouth-feels, but they are perhaps not suitable in this case...

Quote from: Lindorm on February 14, 2010, 01:15:20 PM
Yup. I am not really a fan of them after an encounter at a cheap sushi place where they were of the "cold, rancid, grease-blob-variety". Sort of put me off from most sorts of fried tofu from then on...

Inari sushi, maybe?  The Japanese make them too sweet and they are usually canned.  Korean yubu chopab is better IMHO. I'm talking more about the ones you float in a hotpot.



Soon Dubu Chige...  this recipe looked good, although I haven't made it myself:
http://www.trifood.com/soondooboochigae.html

Hey Zone- those bean-burgers sound great! By "milling", do you mean grinding? Or do you use a blender?

Actually we used a blender but I feel that grinding them might have been a better choice (the blender struggled with it and we had to add more water that I would've liked).

Tried a batch of Burmese tofu with black lentil flour.  The thing spontaneously fermented on the counter, but I cooked it up anyways (smelled fine at that point). It thickened up nicely, but the taste and smell weren't so hot (from the lentil flour itself, I think).  I added a few things to try cover it up (fish sauce, soy sauce, hot pepper sauce, various vinaigres) and let it set; I haven't tried it yet but have my doubts about edibility.

I strongly suspect I've created a vegetarian substitute for liver.

Quote from: Agujjim on February 18, 2010, 06:28:42 PM
I strongly suspect I've created a vegetarian substitute for liver.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

I do not need the recipe for that!

Quote from: Agujjim on February 18, 2010, 06:28:42 PM
Tried a batch of Burmese tofu with black lentil flour.  The thing spontaneously fermented on the counter, but I cooked it up anyways (smelled fine at that point). It thickened up nicely, but the taste and smell weren't so hot (from the lentil flour itself, I think).  I added a few things to try cover it up (fish sauce, soy sauce, hot pepper sauce, various vinaigres) and let it set; I haven't tried it yet but have my doubts about edibility.

I strongly suspect I've created a vegetarian substitute for liver.

You know, there are those who would have stopped at the "spontaneously fermented" point. Glad you are made out of sterner stuff!

I mananged to concoct something for dinner the other day that actually made me go "Jumpin' Jehosephat, what in tarnation have I done?" -so Darlica was promptly dispatched to hunt and kill a few wilde take-away sushi beasts, which she thankfully did.