Read This Can't Be Tofu! Online
Authors: Deborah Madison
This Can't Be Tofu! (3 page)
1. To make room for other liquids and seasonings to be absorbed, such as marinades and spice rubs
2. To prevent excess spattering when deep-frying tofu
3. To prevent diluting sauces and dressings
However, you don’t have to fret about this, nor do you have to do it every time. Generally, I find that tofu can simply sit on some toweling while I’m assembling other ingredients, and that’s plenty of time to remove excess water. For tofu that’s to be deep-fried, you have to do a serious pressing or the water will spurt dangerously in the oil. If you’re not deep-frying tofu, look to the simpler methods that follow.
Serious Pressing:
Wrap an entire piece of drained tofu in an absorbent dish towel. Set the tofu on a cutting board and weight it down with something heavy, like a large can of tomatoes. Rest one end of the board on a plate or something else so that the board with the weighted tofu is tilted toward the sink. The excess water will drain off and flow into the sink. Leave for 20 to 30 minutes.
Towel Drying:
This method is especially good for sliced tofu that’s going to be shallow-fried. Use a cloth dish towel or several layers of paper towels. Lay the sliced tofu on the toweling, cover it with
a second layer, and press gently to wick off the excess moisture. Leave it like this while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.
Pan Drying:
This process both dries and firms the tofu so that it won’t fall apart in a stir-fry. Slice or cube the tofu without pressing or towel drying first, then put it in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, adding a little oil if you wish. The water in the tofu will evaporate and eventually the tofu will brown slightly, even if you haven’t added any oil to the pan. This will both dry and firm the tofu.
Oven Drying:
Place sliced or cubed tofu in a very lightly oiled pie plate and cook at 375°F until all the water has evaporated and the tofu has a nice, slightly firm feel to it when pressed with your finger. This will take 20 to 25 minutes at 375°. After 10 to 12 minutes, the tofu will have released a lot of water. Carefully pour it off, then return the tofu to the oven to finish drying.
Along with the notion that tofu will become whatever you wish by virtue of its seasonings comes the idea of the marinade, the liquid means of transformation. I have always felt that marinades are terribly overrated, and that they don’t really accomplish much except to flavor the very outside of the tofu itself. When I was the chef at Greens restaurant, we used to keep blocks of firm Chinese tofu submerged for days in an extremely strong marinade of red wine, mustard, dried mushrooms, soy sauce, and other ingredients, but it never did much more than affect the appearance and taste of the tofu’s outermost surfaces. When we cut into it, it was pure white, the marinade clearly never having penetrated the tofu.
A more effective use for a marinade is as a cooking liquid. Pour it over the tofu as it cooks and the marinade will reduce and leave a lustrous, flavorful sheen. I think you’ll be very happy with the results. Here’s the basic method:
1. Drain, then slice or cube the tofu. No need to use the serious pressing method, just blot dry the tofu to remove some of the water. Assemble your marinade ingredients. Many marinade recipes are similar to each other, consisting of garlic, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, sugar, and maybe some molasses or dark vinegar. The sugar or molasses give the tofu its glossy sheen.
2. Heat a large nonstick or cast-iron skillet. Spray the skillet with peanut oil from your own mister, or a spray such as Oriental Mist, add the tofu and sear until golden on both sides. Even if you don’t use any oil, the tofu will color, but it’s best if it colors a lot and for that you need some oil. If you use enough oil to shallow-fry, the tofu will also get a crisp, golden crust.
3. When the tofu is nicely colored, pour the marinade over the tofu and continue cooking until it has reduced to a glaze. As the marinade cooks down, the sugars caramelize, leaving behind some very delectable tofu. You can simply serve the tofu as is, or garnish it with toasted sesame seeds and slivered scallions. You can also slice the tofu and add it to a noodle or rice salad or a stir-fry.
These techniques, which can be used with all grades of silken tofu as well as soft regular tofu, firm the texture, which keeps it from falling apart when cooked. The cooking and the salt also round out the flavor. I routinely use this technique with silken tofu that I’m going to cook further, and when I use tofu in salads.
Simmering:
Bring 6 cups water in a wide skillet to the boil. Add 1 teaspoon sea salt, then lower the heat so that the water is barely simmering. Add the tofu. Simmer small cubes for 1 to 2 minutes; larger cubes for 4 to 5 minutes. Gently remove the tofu with a strainer and set it on a towel to drain for several minutes. Once dried, this tofu will be fine for gentle frying.
Steeping:
Bring 6 cups water in a wide skillet to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt, then turn off the heat. Add the tofu and let it steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove with a flat strainer. If you wish to cool the tofu, lower the strainer into a bowl of cold water, then turn the tofu onto a towel until needed.
Shopping
at Asian Markets
I have strived to make this book an easy one to use, one that doesn’t rely on exotic ingredients or techniques. While I enjoy tofu in the context of traditional Asian cuisines, I’m not an expert in these cuisines and don’t mean to send you scurrying for the esoteric ingredients that give them their true characters. If you wish to learn about a cuisine in more depth, I know that you’ll turn, as will I, to the real experts. For this book, most of the Asian ingredients called for are available in your supermarket. Yet there is much more to discover if you set about exploring Asian grocery stores. (I say Asian because often a single market caters to the entire pan-Asian community by selling foods from Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Korea.) While row after row of unfamiliar foods with unrecognizable labels can be daunting, there are many useful ingredients to be ferreted out that go especially well with tofu, starting with the tofu itself.
I find the most delicious tofu in Asian markets, where it tends to be extremely fresh. I am always happy when I find extra-firm Chinese tofu floating in large buckets of water, the tofu white, the water clear and clean smelling. This is tofu that’s made, sold, and probably eaten the same day, and the difference in flavor between this and packaged tofu is significant. Those who eat tofu regularly value the high quality of fresh tofu and usually shop in markets where the turnover supports its daily fabrication. If you’re not well acquainted with the store where you see such tofu, ask when and where it was made. Don’t forget to use your nose: fresh tofu should never smell sour. It should be sweet and slightly nutty.
My Asian market also carries a variety of regional brands that are not available in most supermarkets. This tofu, which often comes in large weights of about 20 ounces each, is a more practical size for four servings. I’ve also found a very delicate tofu that can be eaten like custard or blended into smoothies or whatever else you wish. You can also buy little kits that allow you to make your own tofu quite easily, if you’re ever curious to give it a try.
Because tofu is so good with Asian seasonings, these markets are good places to pick up basics such as rice wine and rice wine vinegar, thin soy sauce, mushroom soy sauce, coconut milk, roasted sesame and peanut oils, fish sauce, oyster sauce, black and white sesame seeds, and other frequently used ingredients. Sambal oelek, a red chili paste, provides an interesting hot accent to dishes. You can also find all kinds of noodles, from rice sticks and mung bean threads to Chinese egg noodles and Vietnamese rice paper pancakes. Search out items such as Korean barbecue sauce, black bean sauce, chili paste with soybeans, dried mushrooms, hoisin sauce, plum sauce, and other
delicious condiments. Prepared sauces, for mapo tofu or Szechuan spicy noodles, allow you to make a meal in moments. In the Indian aisle of the market, or in an Indian grocery, if your area has one, there are spices for making curry mixtures and masalas, plus chutneys and tamarind paste. Japanese markets offer delicate somen, udon, and earthy-tasting soba, or buckwheat, noodles along with delicious, dark Kadoya sesame oil and
kombu
and other sea greens. While I’ve never tried them, there are seemingly endless displays of packaged sauces that look enticing, to which you add water. They may be delicious with tofu.
Many books have been written on all branches of Asian cooking to help you make sense of what these exotic markets offer. Use these guides, and you’ll significantly widen your cooking vocabulary, especially for tofu.
THE FOLLOWING SEVEN RECIPES ARE SIMPLE,
basic approaches that will allow you to cook tofu with particular ease and speed. The results can be enjoyed immediately (try Fried Tofu, below, with a peanut sauce or sprinkled with salt), incorporated into other dishes (see
Tofu and Mushrooms Braised in a Sweet-and-Sour Sauce
), or just used as techniques in other recipes.
While the smoking technique is not quite as speedy as searing and glazing, it does provide you with barbecued tofu that can go right into a sandwich or become part of another dish where smoky flavor and meaty texture are desired.
Frying Tofu
Many people prefer tofu when it has a crisp, golden exterior. Frying always makes everything taste better, of course, plus the pretty golden exterior makes tofu that much more attractive as an ingredient. Because a lot of people don’t want to deep-fry these days, I’ve not called for this method except in a few recipes. You can, however, buy chunks of
deep-fried tofu in Asian markets.
Tofu can also be given color and texture by shallow-frying or simply browning in a nonstick or castiron skillet with little or no fat added. Shallow-frying also helps the spice coatings used in some dishes to do their work of flavoring the tofu more effectively. Frying not only gives tofu an attractive color and crisp surface, it firms it up as well. Don’t hesitate to season the tofu with a little salt and pepper.
Deep-Frying:
First, apply the
serious pressing technique
to a block of firm or extra-firm tofu, then cut it into the desired shapes. Blot up any excess moisture with paper towels. Heat two to
three cups of peanut or vegetable oil in a deep-sided pot or skillet. When the oil is hot enough to quickly sizzle a piece of tofu, add several pieces of tofu to the pot. They will cluster together and tend to fuse in the oil, so use tongs or chopsticks to separate them as they cook. Fry until golden, but don’t let them get brown or the tofu will be too hard. Remove the tofu and drain it on paper toweling. Use these tofu pieces in other dishes, or salt them and serve with a peanut sauce or other dipping sauce as an appetizer.
Shallow-Frying:
Dry the tofu thoroughly, but not fanatically. Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a skillet by about ¼ inch or slightly less. When hot, add the tofu in a single layer and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels if desired. You can use the tofu in stir-fries or other dishes, or return it all to the pan and add whatever sauce or flavoring you desire.
Pan-Browning:
Because tofu already has a fair amount of fat in it, if you add sliced or cubed tofu to a dry nonstick skillet as described
here
, it will eventually color a bit, turning pale gold. If you don’t mind a little fat, misting the pan lightly with peanut oil will bring out more color. Add a pinch or two of sea salt and some pepper when you’re done. As with any other foods, salt and pepper make tofu taste better.