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Tofu
has come a long way
April 26, 2007
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Tofu’s
rep as a health food is well-deserved.
The rubbery white slabs of soy are rich in protein but low
in the things most of us should cut back on – sodium,
animal protein, saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol.
Use tofu in entrees instead of meat or cheese and you’ll
improve the nutritional profile of any meal.
If you’re not familiar with tofu, here’s a quick
overview:
Tofu – or soybean curd – is a traditional Asian
food made in a process similar to the way we make cheese.
A coagulant is used to curdle soymilk. Then the solids are
separated from the liquid and pressed into a block the size
and shape of a small paperback book. Tofu is odorless and
bland, and it picks up the flavors of whatever it’s
cooked with.
Tofu is typically packaged for supermarkets in one pound blocks,
floating in water and sealed into plastic tubs. You can also
find tofu packaged in 12 oz. aseptic boxes, coagulated inside
the package itself. Tofu is available in varying degrees of
firmness, depending upon how much water has been pressed out
of it, and some styles work better than others in certain
recipes.
The most common way to see tofu used – and my favorite
way to eat it – is cubed and stir-fried with vegetables
in Chinese restaurants. Served with steamed rice, it’s
one of the most healthful meals you can order out, even though
the added soy sauce can make it relatively high in sodium.
Tofu can also be marinated and baked as an entrée,
and natural foods stores sell packages of barbecued tofu that
can be sliced and used to make sandwiches.
As long as I’ve been eating tofu, though (more than
35 years), I’ve seldom eaten it as a main course at
home. Instead, I like to use tofu in ways that make it more
of a hidden ingredient. Here’s how:
* As an egg substitute. Replace hardboiled eggs with chopped
firm or extra firm tofu to make egg salad sandwich filling.
(You can also replace regular mayonnaise with soy mayonnaise,
available in most supermarkets and natural foods stores.)
Chopped tofu also replaces egg on spinach salads, and it’s
good in broth-based soups, too. And here’s a surprise:
One quarter cup of any kind of tofu, blended with the liquid
ingredients, can replace one whole egg in many recipes.
* As a cheese substitute. Crumble firm tofu and mix it with
lowfat ricotta and mozzarella cheese in recipes for lasagna
and other Italian dishes such as manicotti and stuffed shells.
* In dips, sauces, whipped toppings and cream soups. Soft
tofu can be blended with liquids such as lemon or lime juice,
vegetable oil and broth as well as with other soft foods such
as avocado or baked garlic cloves in a wide range of recipes.
* In desserts, including cheesecake, pumpkin pie and pudding.
If I’ve piqued your interest, you’ll be sold once
you’ve seen the photos in Louise Hagler’s classic
book, Tofu Cookery, Revised Edition (Book Publishing Company,
1991).
For more ideas about ways to use tofu in cooking, see Soy
of Cooking by Marie Oser (Chronimed, 1996), The Complete Soy
Cookbook by Paulette Mitchell (Macmillan, 1998) or New Soy
Cookbook by Lorna Sass (Chronicle Books, 1998).
Years back, I was a guest on ”Good Morning America”
and walked host Joan Lunden through a show-and-tell of common
ingredients in vegetarian foods. Tofu was among them. The
chef at a well-known New York restaurant – Angelica’s
Kitchen – had baked a gorgeous tofu cheesecake. Joan
held up a forkful for Charlie Gibson to try, and he wouldn’t
touch it.
Since then, tofu has gained wider acceptance.
Try tofu. You may find it becomes a useful – and healthful
– household staple.
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