What is Tofu?

Tofu in Chinese words is called 豆腐. For Asian countries, tofu has been used in the cusines for many decades but it is still consider a comparatively new type of food in Western countries. Tofu is one of the favorite foods especially for vegetarians and is being used as a substitution for cheese and meat.

In case you have no idea what is tofu all about, tofu is actually made of curdled soy bean milk. It has a mundane taste and most people are typically called it as ‘chameleon like’ since it come out with the flavor of the food it’s being cooked with. For this reason, tofu works extremely well with a a lot of different recipes.

For health eating purpose, the consumption of a tofu dish can bring you a lot of health benefits. Tofua is features with low calories and high protein ingredients, and the best thing is it contains no cholesterol. Research has announced in which the soy protein present in tofu could very well help in reducing the chances of getting heart disease.

If you are interest in making tofu dishes and would like to have some easy tofu recipes, then I’m here prepare you with some of the simple tofu recipes that you can used to make for you and your family to consume.

Scrambled Tofu

Ingredients:
1 pkg firm or regular tofu
2 garlic cloves finely choped
1/2 cup green onions finely chopped
1/2 green pepper diced

Directions:
Crumble tofu with fork. In a pan, add olive oil and garlic and cook on low heat for one minute. Add tofu, green onions, green peppers and salt. Raise heat and cook for about 5 minutes stirring often. Excellent substitute for scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Simple Tofu Recipes with Vegetables

The Gourmet Kitchen offers an extensive recipe collection including Rice recipes. Use The Gourmet Kitchen and you’ll never run out of recipe ideas again! Below is a recipe for Simple Tofu Vegetables…enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 each onions, cubed
1 each bell pepper, green, cubed
1/2 pound mushrooms, fresh, halved
1 pound tofu, cubed
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup water
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon sage

Directions:

In hot oil, saute onions until limp. Add pepper, mushrooms, tofu, seeds, water & herbs. Simmer until vegetables are limp.

Serve over cooked rice.

Source: http://www.gourmet.org/recipes/rice/simple-tofu-vegetables

Simple Baked Tofu

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package firm tofu
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper or 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

1. Cube tofu.
2. Mix all ingredients into a large bowl.
3. Let marinade in the fridge for about one hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350.
5. Place tofu on a cooling rack with a baking pan underneath to catch excess liquid.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, turn tofu and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the edges start to brown.

Source: http://www.food.com/recipe/simple-baked-tofu-107968

Simple Tofu Egg Loaf

Ingredients:
48 8 ounce servings; 4 9×13 or 2 12×20 pans
Bakes about 1 hour at 300 degrees
The mayonaisse in this recipe provides a richness and texture which makes tofu more attractive to non-vegetarians.
10 pounds extra-firm tofu, cut into 2″ squares
1 tablespoon salt
3 pounds chopped water chestnuts
2 pounds shredded carrots
3 pounds canned mushroom stems and pieces, drained and chopped
OR 5 pounds fresh mushrooms with stems, sauteed and chopped
1 pound green onions, sliced
25 large beaten eggs
1 1/2 quarts mayonnaise
1 to 2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
1 1/2 quarts thick mushroom or tomato gravy/sauce
OR 1 50 ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup

Directions:
Grease or spray 4 9×13 or 2 12×20 baking pans, set aside. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
In large pot, cook tofu in boiling water with 1 tablespoon of salt for 5 minutes to firm texture slightly. You may omit this step if using previously frozen thawed tofu which you squeeze and drain.
Drain, cool and crumble tofu. Stir in water chestnuts, carrots, mushrooms, and green onions.
Mix eggs, mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons salt and pepper. Pour over tofu mixture and mix well.
Evenly divide the tofu mixture into the pans.
Bake at 300 degrees F for 30 minutes. Top each pan with 1/2 gravy or soup. Bake until internal temperature is 140 degrees F or higher and loaf is set, about 30 minutes.
Cut into 48 portions. Hold at 140 degrees F or higher.

Source: http://www.ellenskitchen.com/clearlight/tofuloaf.html

Easy Tofu Recipes