Saturday, June 4, 2011

Sauteed Tofu. In A Baby Diaper???

Tofu is such a wonderful thing.  Scrambled, baked, stir fried, sauteed...dressings, smoothies, and dips.  So many flavors!!!  The following is probably how I make it most of the time.

You will need:

1 TBS worcestershire
2 TBS reduced sodium soy sauce
1 TBS garlic powder
1 TBS onion powder
2 tsp soy oil
1 tsp black pepper (more or less as desired)
12.3 oz package extra firm tofu in water (firm is okay for this as well)
*nonstick frying pan
*cloth baby diaper (if you don't have a cloth baby diaper, you can use 1 or 2 thick dish cloths)

First thing you need to do is get as much water out of the tofu as you can.  Open the package and drain the water, then take the brick of tofu out, being careful not to break it.  Take the brick of tofu and lay it in the middle part of the baby diaper (or on a tri-folded dish towel), then wrap the diaper around the tofu using the middle of the diaper, as that is the part that soaks up the liquid the best.  If using a dish towel, wrap like you would with diaper, or lay a second folded towel on top.


Once wrapped, you need to put a fairly heavy (about 1 1/2 to 2 lbs) pot or pan on top of the wrapped tofu brick...make sure it is right in the middle to evenly press the water out of the brick.  Cast iron pans work well.  I use my removable flat top/grill.  You could also use a thick book, or anything else you have, if you do not have a heavy pot or pan!  Let that sit and press the water out for a couple of hours:)


While the tofu is "draining," you can prepare the marinade.  Put the six liquid and powdered ingredients in a sandwich size ziplock back, zip, then mix well.  Set it in the refrigerator until the tofu has been drained.  After a couple of hours, unwrap the tofu and get your bag of marinade.  Carefully put the brick of tofu in the ziplock bag with the marinade.  Turn the bag carefully several times and use your fingers on the outside of the bag to fully coat the brick.  Set the bag in the refrigerator for another few hours so that the tofu can soak up the marinade.










After the tofu is finished marinating, take it out of the bag and carefully slice into "bite-sized" pieces.  When cut, put the tofu into a nonstick pan over medium heat and cook for about 3 minutes...carefully "flip" the tofu in the pan either with a spatula or with the wrist flip technique (which I prefer!)...cook for about 3 minutes...flip...repeat.  You can stir the tofu softly while cooking if you want, but I prefer to get a little "crisp" on the outside of the tofu pieces.  Overall, you will need to cook the tofu for about 10 minutes.  Once finished, serve with whatever sides you wish.  This amount of tofu will be enough for 2 to 3 meals, depending on how much you want to eat at a time:)  I usually eat it with steamed mixed veggies and plain pasta or steamed rice.  Once cooled, the tofu is great on top of salads or in a sandwich, too.

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