Tofu for the Unashamed

When you talk about vegetarian cooking with non-vegetarians, the elephant in the room is...tofu. Most people will complain that it is taste-less, or bland, and that they just don't like it. Which, fair enough, nobody likes everything, but I firmly maintain that most non-vegetarians have never actually had tofu prepared well at home. A friend of mine gave me a good basic recipe for tofu preparation that can be easily adapted to match your tastes.

Ingredients:

1 block firm tofu, cubed (NOT silken) + salty, spicy, sweet, sour, seasoning (honestly, honestly I did not realise that they all start with S until I wrote it all out) and oil. Here is my go-to standard:

-soy sauce (I find straight soy sauce too salty, so I always use a 1:1 dilution with water)

-chili pepper/hot sauce

-maple syrup/honey

-lemon juice/rice wine vinegar

-salt and freshly ground pepper

-olive + sesame oil

Instructions:

As far as amounts, I usually eyeball it with soy sauce as the major component and add everything else directly into a baking dish a couple of teaspoons at a time until it's to my taste, so lots of wiggle room. The dish should be large enough so that you don't have more than two layers of tofu cubes; otherwise, double up. You want to have at least a centimeter of liquid in the bottom of the baking dish. Then dump in the cubed tofu, cover with foil and bake at 350F/180C for 25-30 minutes, stirring once at the 15 minute mark. When it starts to smell really good in your kitchen, you've reached your mark. What is also excellent is adding in a chopped red onion, some minced ginger, and as many garlic cloves as you can stand (I love roasted garlic, so I usually go with a full clove) into the marinade with the tofu.

It's done when most of the liquid is gone, the tofu is a nice golden colour, and when pierced with a fork is very soft. It is important that it not burn, because while a little caramelization on the outside of the tofu cubes is delicious and gives a nice crispy bite, burnt tofu is nobody's very rubbery friend. If you find that there is still a lot of liquid in the bottom of the dish after about half an hour, take off the foil and turn the broiler on for a few minutes (or do this if you really like crunchy bits - I do).

Other tasty add ins, alone or together:

-cubed sweet potato

-cubed winter squash

-oyster mushrooms

-broccoli

This is a great main dish for a meat-less meal with a salad and rice or quinoa. I dare you not to like this, and I dare anyone else not to too. And if they say "Eh, it's okay, but I'd rather have a steak" that's okay - next time just don't share.

Bonan apetiton!