How to Cook Tofu

Ever wondered how in the world people actually eat tofu? The BBQ coated white cubes in the vegetarian line of my college’s cafeteria didn’t inspire me to try it either. But, when John and I started eating a vegetarian diet four years ago, we took the leap and gave it a try. Once I learned to cook tofu properly, it became one of our favorite protein sources. It’s the perfect substitute for chicken in stir-fry type dishes and can also stand in for sandwich meat.

Since on of the recipes in Winter Week One features tofu, I wanted to give you a brief tutorial to show you how we cook it.

First, cut open the tofu package and drain out the water. If your grocery store carries this kind of tofu, it will generally be in the produce section, or some other refrigerated area of the store. There is another sort of tofu that comes in vacuum-packed boxes, but that’s not what you need for this recipe.

Now, cut the tofu into slices. This is the cut that I use if I’m going to put the tofu into sandwiches. For the Tofu and Pineapple recipe in this week’s menu, I would cut each of these slices into four rectangular pieces. When you’re first starting out with tofu I think that it’s very important to cook the tofu thoroughly so that the texture is more similar to other foods you already eat. If you cut the tofu into smaller pieces you can cook it more quickly.

Now, lay out the sliced tofu on a clean kitchen towel and wrap it up as pictured below.

Place your hands palm-down on the tofu and press gently but firmly. This squeezes excess water out of the tofu so that it can soak up the marinade in the next step. I usually get up on my tiptoes so that I can put more of my body weight into pressing the tofu. You may read in other instructions that you should press the tofu for 30 minutes. I never think to start the tofu 30 minutes before I need it, and I’ve found my pressing method to be perfectly adequate.

Unwrap the pressed tofu and lay it on a plate or large dish of some sort. Drizzle gluten free tamari sauce over the top.

Using your fingers, spread the tamari over the surface of the tofu. Flip the tofu slices over and repeat the process on the other side. If the tofu has been cut into small chunks, you can place the tofu in a zip-top bag, pour some tamari in, and toss the bag to coat the tofu.

At this point you can either pan-fry the tofu, much like you would pan-fry chicken. Or you can bread the tofu and then pan-fry it.

In this picture, I’m breading the tofu in a mixture of GF flour mix, salt, and paprika.  This is the same mixture I would use for fried chicken. You can also just use cornstarch. Make sure each piece is well coated. If you have time, let the tofu sit for 10 minutes after you’ve breaded it and then bread it on more time.

Cook the tofu in a small amount of oil at medium heat. Once the bottom side has browned, flip the tofu over and cook the other side(s). Cooked tofu can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.