{"id":6,"date":"2004-07-03T21:12:45","date_gmt":"2004-07-04T06:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.taodekitchen.com\/2004\/07\/03\/i-scream-you-scream-we-all-scream-for-tofutti\/"},"modified":"2006-01-09T22:06:06","modified_gmt":"2006-01-10T07:06:06","slug":"i-scream-you-scream-we-all-scream-for-tofutti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/nutrition-diet\/i-scream-you-scream-we-all-scream-for-tofutti\/","title":{"rendered":"I scream, you scream, we all scream for… tofutti"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tofu \u2013 a most popular soy product. These days most of us wonder\u2026Is soy good for you or bad for you? One day the leading news story is that it\u2019s good \u2013 the cure all\u2026prevents osteoporosis\u2026helps prevent hot flashes during menopause\u2026lowers cholesterol\u2026contains genistein, a cancer cell inhibitor\u2026Asian women eat it all the time and they have lower incidence of breast cancer. Then the next day, the headlines broadcast \u2018Soy is Bad! Bad! Bad!\u2019 Yikes, soy can disrupt thyroid functions\u2026 soy based formulas are bad for infants\u2026soy will shrink your brain and increase your chances of Alzheimer\u2019s\u2026soy can enhance some forms of breast cancer. All this contradictory information can make your head spin faster than Linda Blair\u2019s!\u00a0 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 \u2013 how controlled are these studies anyway? Is it all hype funded by that corporation identified by it\u2019s three initials? (oh, behave\u2026) Hey, and remember, tofu and soy products are just part of the overall Asian diet. Asians don\u2019t eat nothing but tofu so don\u2019t you either!\u00a0 \u00a0I love soy products in all it\u2019s unadulterated non GMO (whatever you do make sure the package states the soy is non GMO or non genetically modified) forms \u2013 dried sheets of bean curd, soy sauce, miso, soy nuts, tempeh\u2026ugh, to be honest I think tempeh is yuck, soy milk and tofu in all it\u2019s stages of firmness.So what about tofu and all it\u2019s stages of firmness \u2013 this can get downright confusing \u2013 why, just the other day I was at Koreana, the local Korean grocery here in Oakland, and there was – I kid you not – \u2018extra soft,\u2019 \u2018soft,\u2019 \u2018firm,\u2019 \u2018extra firm,\u2019 and \u2018extra extra firm\u2019 – there was probably more but some of the package labels were only in Korean. Ok, that was a bit extreme so let\u2019s just deal with the middle three. Well, wait \u2013 you have to indulge me here – I\u2019ll have to spend a few words on the \u2018extra soft\u2019 \u2013 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 – \u2018DoFu Fa.\u2019 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\u2019s a nice light dessert after gorging on dumplings.\u00a0Ok, so back to the other three categories of firmness \u2013 one loyal reader, Sandra Ortiz, asked what to do with Tofu \u2013 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\u2019s firmer forms. OK finally, here\u2019s what I would do with each form:\u00a0 Soft \u2013 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\u00a0 Firm and Extra Firm \u2013 a great low fat sub for meat in just about any dish. Cubed and saut\u00e9ed in stir fries, in stews and soups. Oh, how about in place of paneer in the Indian spinach dish, Saag Paneer? Saag Tofeer anyone?\u00a0 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 \u2018Tofu Parmesana\u2019 \u2013 the possibilities are virtually endless. Ah, but wait, how can I forget with the Fourth \u2013 you can grill it with some good old fashion barbeque sauce on it. Heck, toss it between some of those buns while you\u2019re 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.\u00a0Lastly (not really, but lastly for tonight\u2019s blogging) you can mash that nice fresh block of tofu (I like Wildwood or Sacramento Brand \u2013 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span>Here\u2019s a recipe for a Chipotle FauxTo Loaf:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span>1 lb extra firm tofu, crumbled
\n\u00bd cup rolled oats
\n\u00bc cup corn meal
\n2 large eggs, beaten
\n2 T scallion, sliced
\n2 T celery, finely diced
\n\u00bc cup carrot, grated
\n\u00bc cup diced red pepper
\n1 cup corn
\n2 T chipotle chile canned in adobo sauce, finely chopped
\n2\/3 cup tomato puree
\n1 teaspoon oregano, dried
\n\u00bd cup smoked gouda cheese, grated
\n1 1\/4 cup cheddar cheese, medium, grated
\n1 teaspoon chili powder
\n1 teaspoon salt\u00a0 Put all ingredients in a medium (or if you\u2019re extra messy and need the extra room a large) bowl – we let Mochi the dog clean up so we use a medium bowl. Use a large spoon to mix up all the ingredients, use a chopping motion if you need to break up big chunks of tofu. The tofu should still have some texture – so don\u2019t get carried away mashing it to mush. Taste the mix for seasoning \u2013 adding more salt if necessary. If in an especially cheesy mood toss in some more cheddar too. Put the mix into a well-greased loaf pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until the center is firm to the touch.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Serve with a side of mashed potatoes (with a few finely sliced scallions tossed in while mashing for a nice change to regular old mashers) and your favorite veggie – how about some of that great sweet Brentwood corn?\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s it for this round \u2013 have a Happy Fourth!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tofu \u2013 a most popular soy product. These days most of us wonder\u2026Is soy good for you or bad for you? One day the leading news story is that it\u2019s good \u2013 the cure all\u2026prevents osteoporosis\u2026helps prevent hot flashes during menopause\u2026lowers cholesterol\u2026contains genistein, a cancer cell inhibitor\u2026Asian women eat it all the time and they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nutrition-diet","category-recipes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}