How do you make Tofu taste good in vegetarian dishes?

Answer 1

Leave it out?

Answer 2

The taste of tofu is on the whole non-existent.
As a result, the answer to this question relies on one of 2 things:
1) The marinade you use
2) The tofu you use

1) You can marinate tofu in soya sauce or tamari. Alternatively, you can put some chunks of ginger and garlic in a pot of sesame oil and leave for a few days. You can then use this to marinate the tofu.

2) You can buy some great tofus from wholefood shops that taste delicious without marinating. There is one I love called grafitti tofu which is made with seaweeds. Even though that sounds potentially gross, it is so yum that I can eat a whole square of it cut up into chunks. There is also a tofu rosso which is more for Italian type dishes or as a replacement for cheese on a vegan pizza.
Another one which is really easy to find is smoked tofu. The best way to make this is to cut it into thin strips, sautée with sesame oil until slightly crispy and then coat in sesame seeds.

I hope this helps

Answer 3

I make a marinade out of the following:

2 tbs sesame oil
3 tbs honey
3 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp +/- chili paste
a clove of garlic, smashed
some fresh ginger
some freshly ground black pepper

then i drain the tofu and wrap it in a clean kitchen towel for a little while to get some of the water out of it and then cube it, put it in the marinade and make sure it's all getting a taste of it. the longer it sits, the better so if you want it for dinner, make sure to start marinating it that morning or even the night before. since there is oil in the marinade, you can use some of it to start cooking some vegetables and then add the tofu and the rest of the sauce to it when the veggies are starting to get done.

Answer 4

I know 2 (and only 2) good ways to use tofu.
1. Saute it with vegies and soy sauce. It actually tastes really good.
2. Use it as a yogurt substitute in smoothies. Just take 2 frozen bananas, a bunch of frozen berries, and some tofu, blend it up, and eat. You really can't taste the difference.

:-)

Answer 5

Tofu is kind of inert - it doesn't have much of a taste of its own, which is why it needs flavouring, but you can use almost anything to give it flavour.

The tofu simply gives you something to get your teeth into while you enjoy the flavour.

The best idea is to experiment for yourself. Only you know what flavours you like, so use them and see what you come up with. Have fun with your food.

Answer 6

I fry my tofu in a bit of chilli infused olive oil, which I buy from the supermarket. It gives the tofu a bit of a kick as well as adding flavour to whatever you're adding the tofu to:-)

Answer 7

Tofu is like potatoes. It takes on the taste of what you put with it. It's a protein that you cook with things.
Soy sauce.
McKays chicken seasoning.
There are recipes to use it like a desert, with fruit also.

Answer 8

Tofu easily absorbs all the flavors its cooked with. I've had good luck with freezing and then thawing the tofu first before using it. Freezing it changes the texture. It has a more chewy, meaty texture, and even more easily absorbs moisture, such as a marinade.

Answer 9

I keep my tofu in the freezer and I press it really well before I cook it--freezing and pressing gives it good texture. You have to find the seasonings you like to flavor your tofu, as it takes the flavors of what you cook with it.

Answer 10

I used to work at a Chinese food restaurant, they made some amazing veg dishes with tofu, they used lots of unique spices (garlic, onion) and some type of curry sauce.

Answer 11

I lived in China for nearly 3 years and ate this almost every day, if you like spices it's a great tofu dish.

Má Là Dòufǔ (麻辣豆腐 - Tingly-Hot Tofu)
This Sichuan dish is popular throughout China for a variety of reasons. The dish is savory, inexpensive, relatively quick to make, and mingles the vitality of Chinese hot peppers (la jiao) and the unique tingly flavor of the sichuan peppercorn powder. Typical to Chinese culture, the dish is rarely served the same in two places, although tofu, hot pepper, and sichuan peppercorn are irreplacable constituents. Some recipes call for mushrooms, minced cloves of garlic, sesame seeds, red onions or black pepper. Here is one rendition:


Ingredients:

2 chunks (about 1/2 a kilo) Southern-style tofu (firm Chinese tofu)
50g garlic shoots (garlic scape, 蒜苔)
100g vegetable oil (something with a high burn temperature)
50g spicy bean paste (豆瓣酱)
8g chili powder (辣椒粉)
8g soy sauce
20g cooking wine (料酒)
20g salted sichuan black beans
20g starch
15g broth
1g sichuan peppercorn powder (花椒粉)
10g green onion
10g ginger

Preparation:
Finely mince beans together with the green onion and ginger. Cut the garlic shoots into short lengths (.75 cm). Cut the tofu into 1.5cm cubes and soak them for 1-2 minutes in boiling water.

Cooking:
Heat the vegetable oil add the bean paste, onion, ginger, together with the black bean paste, stirring until well-mixed. Add the chili powder and broth, mixing until the soup takes on an orange color. Add the cooking wine and soy sauce and tofu and cook for 1-2 minutes until the alcohol boils out of the wine. Reduce heat and add the minced garlic shoots. Finally, stir in the sichuan peppercorn powder. Serve over rice!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: The sichuan peppercorn has been difficult to come by in some countries for quite some time due to a canker that commonly inhabits the spice. Lately, export has become possible to places like the United States if the exporter carefully bakes the corns to kill any of the dangerous animals inside. If you are using pre-baked sichuan peppercorn, you may want to use as much as twice as much of it to attain the same level of flavor.

Note: The sichuan peppercorn (or prickly ash) is noded as szechwan pepper, however, I feel that this is a misnomer. It is sometimes called szechuan peppercorn, however the term szechuan pepper (or, to adhere to modern transliteration standards, sichuan pepper), should be reserved for the hot peppers which come from the same region, as this is how they are known (and known well) in China.