Tofu recipes?

I didn't want to hijack Pearl's lovely "no recipe" thread by asking for her tofu cheese recipe there hah, but it inspired me to ask: anyone have tofu recipes to share? Especially looking for those that don't have add oil or nuts, but please share any because someone else might love those! ;)

I call it BBQ Tofu:

Press a block of tofu very well to remove as much of the extra moisture as you can. Slice in 1/4" slices. Sautee in a skillet until brown, flipping as necessary. When done, smother in your favorite BBQ sauce and sautee again until caramely-good.

I've served this to the most tofu-phobic people who have actually said, "Wow, that's tasty!" I think it was accepted because of tofu's neutral flavor, combined with the powerful BBQ sauce flavor that most Americans recognize. The secret is to really press out the extra liquid so it doesn't have that "slimy" texture that most people are afraid of.

My family LOVES this Crispy Oven-Baked Tofu recipe from Cookie and Kate: https://cookieandkate.com/how-to-make-crispy-baked-tofu/

Scrambled tofu is also one of my favs... just use a firm tofu... a little oil in a pan, sprinkle on some nutritional yeast and a bit of soy sauce or Bragg's.  It's a good substitute for scrambled eggs.

The family also loves this: https://thegreenloot.com/vegan-tofu-bbq-burger/

And this recipe has been a dessert go-to for me and usually gets rave reviews at potlucks: https://vegweb.com/recipes/easy-peanut-butter-pie  Though I do modify it now by dividing half the filling and adding chocolate to it, and also as you can see in the review by "Icoe" because I'm too cheap to buy tofu cream cheese when I could just use more tofu.  I love that this pie is really satisfying but not cloyingly sweet or overly rich like many peanut butter pies.

Hope to see some great recipes here!

Something I almost always do to tofu is cook it down when I buy it. The only time I use tofu as it  comes from the store is in my cheesy stuff.

I put a good slosh of oil in a  big skillet, and hand squeeze at much water as I can out of 4 - 6 packages of extra firm for a batch. Put the tofu in large chunks, maybe an inch across, just kind of mush it up, add a slosh of soy sauce and cook. Turn it periodically, let it go until it's not wet anymore, an hour or more. The resulting cooked down tofu goes into the freezer, and I break off chunks of the frozen block of it to put into my cooking. It eliminates the bland mushy nature of the tofu.

In  the Oriental stores I went to in the Bay Area of California, there were no mushy pale blocks of tofu. There were interesting variations, but raw tofu just wasn't there. I tried a lot of the variants, and ended up deciding that cooked down was easiest and improved it the most, leaving it most useful in any dish. Worth trying!

Too tired tonight to type up the cheesy stuff recipe, will do it tomorrow.

Have you heard of misozuke? It's a way of turning tofu into a cheesy spread.

You take a big block of tofu, cut it in half lengthwise, press out excess water, coat it completely in miso, leave for at least a couple months. You keep it in an airtight container in the fridge and check every week or so to make sure there's no liquid. Pour it out if there is. You want it dry. If you get mold on the miso, just a scrape that bit off and spread new miso on. Make sure there's never any tofu visible. Once it's aged as long as you're patient enough to let it, you scrape all the miso off and spread the tofu on whatever you like. It's salty and funky.

You can add seasonings to the miso, too, but I haven't done that yet. I've only made it a couple times cause the miso I buy is pretty expensive.

I still really like the tofu I grew up eating that my grandma made. Just a standard baked tofu. She'd press it for quite a while so it was very firm, slice it a centimeter or so thick, marinate it in some tamari based concoction, then bake it until it was nice and chewy.

One for the anti tofu crowd. Freeze a block of tofu - just throw the unopened package in the freezer.  When you want to cook it, thaw it out then wrap it in a towel and press it until it's very dry, probably overnight. Once it's pressed, it has kind of a stringy texture to it and you can tear it into strips. Fry the strips in hot oil until they're brown, then coat in whatever sauce you like. My husband knew I wouldn't cook chicken for him, but he couldn't get chicken out of his head while eating it.

Can't wait to try these! Does it matter what kind of miso you use? I think I have red on hand.

I've used red. Don't remember what I used  the other time. I'm sure different misos would change the flavour, but, like I said, I've only made it a couple times. I should buy some cheaper miso and start experimenting, I guess. As long as you like the miso you're using, the end result will probably be tasty, I would imagine.

I made the tofu cheesy stuff it's own thread
https://permies.com/t/165074/kitchen/Concept-Cooking-Tofu-cheesy-stuff

Wow, so many yummy recipes to try! Thanks everyone!

Vegan Meatballs

Preheat oven to 365 degrees F.

Mix Together:

1 lb extra firm tofu, mashed
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp wheat germ
1/4 cup parsley, chopped or flakes
1/2 tsp oregano, chopped or flakes
2 Tbsp soy sauce  
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
2 garlic cloves, chopped OR 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt (optional)


Spread 2-4 Tbsp of olive oil in bottom of 9x9 or so baking pan.

Mix ingredients together thoroughly and form into sixteen to twenty 1 to 1 1/2" balls, packed tightly.

Bake for 40 minutes, turning every 10 minutes until set and browned. Turn gently at first with a spoon and form for they will be soft.

Upon completion, drain on a paper towel and serve.

I’ll be trying this soon!

Another of my old posts on cooking: Concept cooking: Mock turkey seitan

It came out decent, was made for meat eating company or I'd have done it differently. Just the only one I happened to notate the ingredients.

This video where she tries a bunch of different ways to get crispy tofu and then tells us the best ones was pretty useful to me: