tofu misozuke

I encountered tofu misozuke (miso-cured tofu) at a farmers' market stand in California and was kind of blown away. It is tofu that has been transformed into a creamy cheesy spread simply by coating it with a mixture of miso, sugar, and sake. I knew I had to try making it. Here is the recipe from Rau Om (you can try/buy Rau Om's tofu-misozuke at several markets in the bay area and Oklahoma, or buy it from their online store).

Our first attempt at making tofu misozuke was semi-successful.We changed the moisture-absorbing paper towels every 1–2 weeks. After only 4 or 5 weeks (as opposed to the 2 months recommended by Rau Om), the tofu was cured all the way through. Maybe it went quickly because of the fridge temperature or altitude... Unfortunately, there were some mold spots growing on the outside of the cheesecloth/marinade, and one of our two blocks had to be composted because it was too moldy. The other one was delicious though. For our next attempt, we will check the paper towels more often and check the doneness after 3 or 4 weeks. And maybe we will try some variations that include red pepper flakes, nori, or tea.

sesame noodles with tofu steaks and bok choy

I just read an article in the New York Times magazine that basically implied that cookbooks are way passé . I don't get it. I love my cookbooks. They are sources of inspiration and they get me out of cooking ruts. True, you can look up any recipe on the internet, but you need to know what you want in the first place and then you need to wade through all of the mediocre looking recipes. Quality food blogs are definitely a great middle ground, but they can't entirely replace cookbooks, at least not for me, because uhhhh... sometimes its nice to not look at a computer?

Just the other evening I was feeling a little uninspired by spring produce. I pulled out my two favorite seasonally focused cookbooks "A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen" by Jack Bishop and "Fresh Food Fast: Delicious Seasonal Vegetarian Meals in Under an Hour" by Peter Berley. I paged through the recipes and eventually landed on "sesame noodles with tofu steaks and baby asian greens" in "Fresh Food Fast." Yay for mouth watering inspiration!

pad thai

We had some green onions in the fridge that were verging on old so I made pad thai for dinner. The only thing I really have to say about pad thai is that I find it difficult to put my chopsticks down when I'm full. It's just so good! Beware.

Ingredients:
7 oz. rice noodles
2 T. unrefined peanut oil

1 c. hot water
1/4 c. tamarind pulp
1/4 c. sugar
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. lime juice
red pepper flakes to taste

1/2 lb tofu, diced
1/2 lb asparagus (optional), chopped
1 T. unrefined peanut oil
5 green onions, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
2 c. bean sprouts
1/2 c. peanuts, chopped

Boil water in a pot. Remove from heat and add the rice noodles. Let sit for 10 minutes. Drain and coat in peanut oil.

Heat water and soak tamarind pulp for 10 minutes. Strain tamarind liquid over the finished rice noodles. Stir in sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, and pepper flakes.

Sautee the tofu and asparagus. When the tofu is golden, add the green onions and garlic and cook for a minutes. Crack an egg and scramble. Add everything to the rice noodles. Also toss in the bean sprouts and half of the peanuts. Mix everything together. Use the remaining peanuts to garnish individual servings. If you can get your hands on some cilantro, garnish with that as well.

vegan chicago-style deep dish pizza

As we've mentioned before, we rarely put cheese on homemade pizza--cheese is expensive and you can make pizza that tastes great without it, even Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Although this doesn't have the stringy cheese characteristic of of Chicago-style deep dish pizza, the tofu ricotta filling is quite good. We made this, along with the shepherd's pie for a pi day party and both were a hit.

The crust recipe we used is no longer online, but searching for a "Chicago style pizza crust" will yield many results.

Filling:
I took 1 lb. extra-firm tofu, crumbled it and drained it in a colander. Then I mixed in some minced garlic, salt, and oregano. The sauce was 2 pints of our canned tomato sauce, cooked down to the right consistency, with olive oil, honey, oregano, and basil. After baking, sprinkle with "gomasio-ish parmesean": toasted sesame seeds, lightly ground with a bit of salt and nutritional yeast.

inarizushi

We tried making inarizushi from scratch the other day. Ok, so, we didn't make the tofu from scratch...yet--that will be a future endeavor. But, I wanted to try making the aburaage at home. So, while we were deep frying some zucchini, I tossed in some slices of tofu, then deep fried them again at a higher temperature, rinsed them in hot water, cut slits, and stuffed the tiny pockets with as much sushi rice (rice vinegar, salt, and sugar) as I could cram in there. More detailed directions can be found at Shizuoka Gourmet. Next time I make these, I'd try larger slices of tofu. I think the tofu that comes in a more oblong shape, with a square cross-section would result in nice sized aburaage. These bite-sized inarizushis were great for snacking though...even cold!

tofu scramble

There is a lot you can add to tofu scramble to make it delicious no matter what season it is. Since it is winter, we added frozen corn, frozen edamame, and frozen spinach (all from the farmers market). This time we experimented with adding reconstituted dried bell peppers (red and green)--which adds more color to the scramble. You could also add reconstituted sun-dried tomatoes or mushrooms. Turmeric, nutritional yeast, and soy sauce finish off the seasonings of this hearty breakfast. I don't know if people started putting turmeric in tofu scramble just for the color, but now I can't imagine tofu scramble without the distinctive turmeric flavor. And I like nutritional yeast so I try to find a way to put in everything.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

1/2 large onion, diced

1 lb extra-firm tofu, drained and crumbled

2 large cloves garlic, minced

2 t. turmeric

1 c. frozen corn
3/4 c. frozen spinach, minced

1/2 c. frozen, boiled, shelled edamame

1/4 c. dried bell peppers bits, reconstituted in 1/4 c. red wine
1 t. basil
1 t. thyme
1/2 c. nutritional yeast

1/8 c. soy sauce

salt and black pepper to taste

In a frying pan, saute the onions with 1 T. oil and a pinch of salt until translucent. In the mean time, crumble the tofu into small pieces. I like to squeeze the tofu brick between my fingers over a colander. I then push the tofu down in the colander with my fists, squeezing out as much water as I can.

Add the crumbled tofu, turmeric and half of the minced garlic to the frying pan. Mix once then allow the tofu to brown on one side. Once browned, continue to saute stirring more often. Add frozen corn, frozen spinach, frozen edamame, reconstituted peppers, basil and thyme. When the frozen ingredients have thawed add soy sauce, nutritional yeast and the remaining minced garlic. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Serve with hot sauce if you like and buttered toast.