How do you cook with tofu?

So I'm trying to lose weight and have eliminated sugar from my diet. I'm doing the 12-step thing with my food, I'm in OA, got a sponsor, report to her what I eat everyday and all of that good stuff.

However, I tend to eat a lot of ground beef for economical reasons and because it is fast and convienent as far as cooking with it.

I would like to cut down (or eliminate altogether) on the amount of red meat that I eat because it is fattening and just plain not good for me.

My question is: How do you cook tofu to make it taste like meat? Like if I wanted to make spaghetti sauce with tofu or tofu tacos?

Any suggestions would be helpful on how to make the transition from red meat to plant-based proteins, a little smoother for me.

Thanks!!!!

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Permalink Reply by LesYpersound on February 4, 2009 at 4:17pm

You may have better luck with seitan and tempeh if you want something that can have the same texture as meat.

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Permalink Reply by PolarVibez on February 4, 2009 at 6:36pm

Co-signing on what Lesy and Dwayne said. Definately check out the seitan. I think it's closer in texture to chicken more so than beef, but it grills and fries pretty good. Add some seasoning and maybe some soy sauce and you're good. I'm not big on tempeh though I have tried it it. If you're looking for something similar to ground beef you might wanna try looking for some veggie grillers. I know Morning Star makes a version of it but some other companies might have their vesion too I think. The stuff I'm talking about cooks very similar to ground beef but it's made from texturized vegtable protein. It's the best there is for like spaghetti, or hamburger helper type dishes. I've also made wraps with it. Add some grilled vegetables and you've got someting similar to a steak sandwich. Straigt tofu is a tricky beast. You could do anything with it but I would recommend getting it in an extra firm texture and letting it marinate in a sauce of your choice for at least a day. Then you can bake it, fry it like chicken,sautee or even steam it.

If all else fails hit up borders and get a vegan/vegatarian cook book for some ideas.

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Permalink Reply by kifaru on February 4, 2009 at 8:21pm

Well it depends on what you want to do with it. You can marinate tofu cut into chunks and fry it but that is not lowfat. If you get firm tofu you shred it or break it up and add spices to make patties. Like one pound of tofu shredded, 1/4 onion finely dices, 3/4 cup of cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon crushed garlic, 1/2 jalapeno finely chopped, 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder, salt to taste. Mix everything up in a bowl or pulse in food processor until just mixed. Form patties and fry in a little oil. You can use some egg white to bind it if it doesn't stick together enough for you. Likewise you cadd any thing else you like to the mixture like half a boiled potatoe or finely diced tomato.

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Permalink Reply by Rosenda on February 4, 2009 at 10:41pm

Rene, if you are looking for meat substitute made of soy, there are products made of tofu/soy protein that approximate the feel of using ground meat. Get thee to a health food/whole foods market to find those or look online. There are a lot of brands, and even some that are made of other vegetables or grains and not soy based, "textured vegetable protein".

Excellent suggestions up above for tofu, everyone, I actually needed to know those things myself. I really have only either cut up the silken kind and put it in soup or done the cubed extra firm kind marinated and baked it. You can get tofu out here damn near everywhere (and I also live and work near several Japanese and Chinese markets), but beyond putting it in the usual mabo tofu mix or stir fry or japanese curry mix, I have not experimented at home with it much.

I did try those tofu patties that someone put up on the Lazy Foodies page. Those were actually good!
I still have not tried seitan or tempeh yet.

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Permalink Reply by wonders on March 30, 2009 at 10:58am

FOR A MEATY TEXTURE FREEZE YOUR TOFU - LISTEN TO ME!
the longer you keep the tofu frozen, the meatier the texture will be. you will need to buy the perishable type of tofu NOT the silken one in the shelf-stable packaging. after you've defrosted the tofu, press the water out (you can do this by hand if you by the extra or extra, extra firm varieties) be somewhat gentle as you do not want the tofu to crumble on you. you can also press it by putting it between two plates with a can of soup on top - leave it there for 15 or so minutes.

i would describe frozen tofu to be overall more firm when baked or fried. when cooked in a sauce it has more of a ground turkey texture as opposed to a scrambled egg type feel.

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Permalink Reply by Obsidian on March 30, 2009 at 1:28pm

wonders said:

FOR A MEATY TEXTURE FREEZE YOUR TOFU - LISTEN TO ME!
the longer you keep the tofu frozen, the meatier the texture will be. you will need to buy the perishable type of tofu NOT the silken one in the shelf-stable packaging. after you've defrosted the tofu, press the water out (you can do this by hand if you by the extra or extra, extra firm varieties) be somewhat gentle as you do not want the tofu to crumble on you. you can also press it by putting it between two plates with a can of soup on top - leave it there for 15 or so minutes. i would describe frozen tofu to be overall more firm when baked or fried. when cooked in a sauce it has more of a ground turkey texture as opposed to a scrambled egg type feel.

I agree with this. Freezing makes it more meat like, just get the firmest brand. Whenever I eat tofu I take things a step further and boil it in broth after freezing. The squeezing out of water helps a lot. You can place a plate with some sort of weight on top for a few hours to fully get out as much liquid as possible.

As for marinating, yea just season it like you would meat. After squeezing out the water, the tofu really soaks up marinades and flavoring.

Vegweb has a lot of recipes and info on preparing tofu, not to mention tofu recipes: http://www.vegweb.com

Favorite recipe General Tao's Tofu (just bake it instead of fry it, and use honey instead of sugar): http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=8769.0

Tofu Taco recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=5993.msg293277#msg293277

BBQ Tofu recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=26715.msg289574#msg289574

Spaghetti and Marinated Tofu recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7842.0

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Permalink Reply by Obsidian on March 30, 2009 at 1:47pm

Tofu Meatball recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=8681.msg71309#msg71309

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Permalink Reply by V on April 1, 2009 at 11:11pm

Everyone already wrote all my damn tricks lol.

I guess I'll add to look at how much sodium is in those fake meat products, because that can damage you in a completely different way. I personally enjoy the grillers a ton and 'chicken' strips in my stir-fry everything is very easy to find. If you live by a Trader Joe's please try the Soy Chorizo with some pasta sauce and wheat penne yummmmmm.

Smoked tofu smells and tastes like love. Good luck on your new way of eating.

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Permalink Reply by Death is Drunk on April 7, 2009 at 5:27pm

Thanks for the tips everyone. I never thought freezing tofu.

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Permalink Reply by Rosenda on April 12, 2009 at 2:38pm

Those are some great cooking with tofu ideas up there!! I tried something very good, it was just a marinade of ginger, garlic, mixed in with some soy sauce and a little rice vinegar. I used extra firm tofu, cubed it and marinaded it an hour or two (longer is fine too). Then I put it on a baking sheet in 400 degree oven probably 30 min or until it looked a bit browner.

This was very good in soup and also stir fry with vegetables and served on rice and noodles.
Oh that Soy chorizo is very tasty good suggestion. I'm not trying to stop meat, just to add variation in my diet and there are times I dont have a taste for meat or I just want a short break from it. Rene how's the transition going?

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Permalink Reply by Death is Drunk on April 15, 2009 at 8:52am

Has anyone tried soya chunks? The texture is very 'meat-like'. The instructions stated that it should be soaked in warm water for 15-20 minutes. I prepared it like meat after draining the water I seasoned it up and shimmer down for about 10 minutes on low heat. It came it out pretty good I didn't want to try it at first because of the bread crumb like appearance.