Tasty Bytes

Oh, that magical miso. It’s another product made from soy – this of Japanese origin. The magic is that something that’s been mashed up with salt and mold, then fermented in cedar vats for a year or two or three is edible. Who thought that up? They say many foods are discovered by ‘accident’ – wow, imagine finding something in the back of your frig that may not smell too good and is totally unidentifiable – then taking a taste. I found something like that yesterday. At first, I was mesmorized by the unique pattern of growth – it kind of reminded me of a coral reef…little clown fish darting in and out of the folds… but as the hairs in my nostrils began to curl, I quickly slammed the lid back on before all the paint peeled off the kitchen walls and tossed it. You have to hand it to those intrepid folks who dared taste what most of us would toss our cookies over.  

Tofu – a most popular soy product. These days most of us wonder…Is soy good for you or bad for you? One day the leading news story is that it’s good – the cure all…prevents osteoporosis…helps prevent hot flashes during menopause…lowers cholesterol…contains genistein, a cancer cell inhibitor…Asian women eat it all the time and they have lower incidence of breast cancer. Then the next day, the headlines broadcast ‘Soy is Bad! Bad! Bad!’ Yikes, soy can disrupt thyroid functions… soy based formulas are bad for infants…soy will shrink your brain and increase your chances of Alzheimer’s…soy can enhance some forms of breast cancer. All this contradictory information can make your head spin faster than Linda Blair’s!  Listen, in the end I think we just need to moderate. Sure, women in Asia (heck, men in Asia) eat more tofu than Americans but overall their diets are so vastly different than the western diet so what exactly causes all those great statistics those scientist come up with – how controlled are these studies anyway? Is it all hype funded by that corporation identified by it’s three initials? (oh, behave…) Hey, and remember, tofu and soy products are just part of the overall Asian diet. Asians don’t eat nothing but tofu so don’t you either!   I love soy products in all it’s unadulterated non GMO (whatever you do make sure the package states the soy is non GMO or non genetically modified) forms – dried sheets of bean curd, soy sauce, miso, soy nuts, tempeh…ugh, to be honest I think tempeh is yuck, soy milk and tofu in all it’s stages of firmness.So what about tofu and all it’s stages of firmness – this can get downright confusing – why, just the other day I was at Koreana, the local Korean grocery here in Oakland, and there was – I kid you not – ‘extra soft,’ ‘soft,’ ‘firm,’ ‘extra firm,’ and ‘extra extra firm’ – there was probably more but some of the package labels were only in Korean. Ok, that was a bit extreme so let’s just deal with the middle three. Well, wait – you have to indulge me here – I’ll have to spend a few words on the ‘extra soft’ – at least the Chinese version of extra soft, which is a yummy dessert. At Dim Sum houses you can sometimes find in the merry go round of carts – soft warm tofu – ‘DoFu Fa.’ Order it and the cart mistress will carefully scoop off thin layers (lest too much water oozes out of the delicate curd) and gently lays them in a bowl then pours ginger infused syrup on top. Ummm, so soft, warm and creamy. It’s a nice light dessert after gorging on dumplings. Ok, so back to the other three categories of firmness – one loyal reader, Sandra Ortiz, asked what to do with Tofu – what, when and how? Oh, but wait, let me tell you how tofu is made, shall I? First, soy beans are soaked in water then pureed and strained. The resulting liquid is soy milk. A coagulant is added to the soy milk much like rennet is added to animal milk to make cheese. Then the coagulated mess is strained. The longer the curds are strained the firmer and grainier the tofu gets. So, soft tofu basically has more water in it than it’s firmer forms. OK finally, here’s what I would do with each form:  Soft – blended in smoothies, made into a creamy salad dressing, as a binder in place of eggs with a touch of rice flour blended in, steamed with some soy drizzled on top garnished with slivers of ginger and scallion, diced and put into a chicken broth with spinach, pureed with fruit, some sugar and gelatin for a nice dairy free parfait dessert, etc  Firm and Extra Firm – a great low fat sub for meat in just about any dish. Cubed and sautéed in stir fries, in stews and soups. Oh, how about in place of paneer in the Indian spinach dish, Saag Paneer? Saag Tofeer anyone?  Extra Firm can be sliced into a cutlet, marinated and prepared like a steak with your favorite meat sauces like a piccatta sauce, a pepper sauce, a tonkatsu sauce, maderia sauce or topped with marinara and mozzarella for a ‘Tofu Parmesana’ – the possibilities are virtually endless. Ah, but wait, how can I forget with the Fourth – you can grill it with some good old fashion barbeque sauce on it. Heck, toss it between some of those buns while you’re at it. Just make sure your grill is good and hot and brush the tofu with a bit of oil before tossing on the grill. Lastly (not really, but lastly for tonight’s blogging) you can mash that nice fresh block of tofu (I like Wildwood or Sacramento Brand – both non-GMO and found at my fave grocery store the Berkeley Bowl) and make a nice Faux Meat Loaf or FauxTo Loaf as I like to call it.