Tofu

Posted on 2003/07/16 16:52:47 (July 2003) by john.

Very much maligned and misunderstood.

Tofu seems to have a very bad public image in the west, especially here in the UK. I was browsing h2g2 just now, and found some really negative views about it, not unpredictably, largely from meat eaters. Even some vegetarians though seem to have quite a poor view of it. To an extent, this is fair enough. You don't have to like it, it's your choice. Still though, a lot of the terms used to describe it did frustrate me a bit - words like bland, tasteless, boring, uninteresting and even plain horrid seemed to crop up a lot.

This to me, is astonishingly ignorant. Usually people with these views have only tried tofu once, or not at all, and if they have it was probably prepared by someone without any real imagination. It's like going into a shop, buying the cheapest loaf of sliced bread, eating a slice straight out of the bag, and then deciding that all bread everywhere in the world is bland and uninteresting and therefore not worth eating.

Although I'm almost loathed to say it, I admittedly didn't really develop a liking for tofu until I turned vegetarian. I didn't specifically dislike it before, but I'd not really had the chance to try it and so hadn't developed much of an opinion. Even then, for the first few years of being vegetarian, I'd only have it on occasion, in Chinese restaurants mainly.

It wasn't until I met Chie, and started getting into Japanese food, that I really developed a love for tofu, and began to realise what a wonderfully versatile, interesting, and, yes, tasty food it can be. The Japanese do wonderful things with tofu, and it is very much an everyday food there, eaten by men, women, children, carnivores, omnivores and herbivores alike. There is nothing girly or hippyish about tofu in Japan. High ranking businessmen, sumo wrestlers and members of the Yakuza are all quite happy to sit down together and eat tofu in public.

If the majority of Japan (a country with almost zero vegetarians) enjoys tofu on a daily basis, I find it a bit baffling that it is still so unpopular here. Perhaps the increase in popularity of Japanese food over here might have a positive effect in this area. Maybe in a few years time, when Japanese restaurants are not just confined mainly to London, and supermarkets start to carry a wider range of Japanese food, tofu might gain wider acceptance. It might even become trendy.

However, in the meantime, you, could get ahead of fashion and develop a good working knowledge of tofu, simply by reading my handy guide below. Who knows, you might even be tempted to go out and try some of these interesting tofu dishes. For the time being, it is still going to require a trip to a Japanese (or maybe general oriental) supermarket for anything but the most basic type of tofu. Even then I normally don't bother buying the sort of tofu you can get in regular supermarkets, as it's generally vaccuum packed, and the quality really suffers for it.

Ok, so here goes:

Fresh tofu. Should be eaten within a day or two of being made, raw, best sprinkled with grated ginger, chopped spring onions and soy sauce. I personally prefer the firmer cotton texture rather than the smoother silk texture. The taste is delicate, subtle, but wonderfully pure. To me eating tofu in this way is both luxurious (although actually very cheap) and oddly sort of cleansing.

Koya-dofu. This is a sort of freeze dried tofu, and usually comes in blocks perhaps 8cm x 5cm x 2cm. It has quite a different texture to "normal" tofu, and is far better at absorbing liquid, so is great for soaking up stocks and sauces. Really nice in soups, or just by itself served in some kind of stock - maybe kombu dashi (seaweed stock) with bits of wakame (another type of seaweed, a bit like kelp). I've also seen a recipe for this where it is first soaked in stock, then coated in batter and sauteed.

Yuba. This is the skin that develops during the tofu making process. Eaten fresh, by itself, it is deliciously creamy, almost omelette like in texture. I've had this in Japan, but haven't been able to find it here in the UK. A form of it also comes dried (easier to get in this country, as it is used in Chinese cooking as well), which I think is a great addition to stir fries. Once it has soaked up a bit of sauce, it develops a really nice chewy sort of texture, that you can really get your teeth into.

Abura-age. This is a kind of thin deep fried tofu, which has a lovely golden brown colour. Frying tofu gives it yet another texture and taste, and further still the width that you cut it to before frying will also affect the texture. Abura-age is typically cut into small pieces and put into soup, it is particulary nice in miso soup.

Inari. I think this is a kind of abura-age, but even thinner still. These small rectangles of tofu can be split open, and turned into sort of pockets, which are usually filled with sushi rice. In the shops, they generally come in a sort of syrupy solution. Some of the sweetness of the syrup must pass into the inari as they have an unusually sweet flavour to them. The finished product looks very little like people's preconceived image of tofu, and many people eating inari don't in fact realise what they are eating. Everyone I've made inari sushi for has really thoroughly enjoyed them.

Atsu-age. Again, deep fried, similarly to abura-age, but cut thicker, so that the inside is still white and, well, tofu like. In fact, the usual Japanese way of frying atsu-age leaves the middle almost raw. This gives it a really nice constrast between the golden brown fried edges and the milky white pure inside. I'm happy to just eat this stuff by itself, it is quite delicious. I've had it barbequed, and it goes really well with yakiniku sauce.

The Chinese also often prepare tofu in a similar way, more usually cut into bite sized chunks, and then deep fried. What I've started to notice though, is that just about every Chinese restaurant or takeaway I've been to serves slightly different fried tofu. The original raw tofu might be made in a different way, or with different types of beans, and there are many different ways to go about the frying process, not to mention the fact that the simple virtue of cutting it to a different size and shape will have an impact on the taste and texture, before you even begin to consider what flavours and sauces it is to be combined with. One particularly nice way to serve tofu I had recently in a Chinese restaurant is fried in a sort of chilli batter. So the edges are crispy and with a lovely spicy taste to them. There were ten people at our table, I was the only vegetarian there, but everyone else came back for seconds of that particular dish.

Back to Japan, in a similar vein there's tofu tempura (not sure if this is the correct way to describe it). Here rather than frying the tofu directly, it is first coated in that very characteristic light and crispy tempura batter. The result is a lovely crispy outside and soft fluffy inside. I've had this with beansprouts and a sort of brown sticky sauce on top, not sure what it was, but I was assured it was vegetarian. Very tasty.

If all this frying sounds a bit unhealthy, there's what (I think) is called yu-dofu, which is basically fresh tofu boiled in a simple stock (generally kombu dashi if I'm having it). Sounds very uninteresting, but this is especially lovely in the winter months, when it is really warming and satisfying.

Another variety of fried tofu includes gammodoki, in which fresh tofu is mixed up with vegetables and maybe seaweed and made into kind of cakes. A bit like bubble and squeak in a way.

Tofu is also used in desserts, not something I've tried a lot, given that I much prefer savoury foods. Still though, I've enjoyed in the past these pots with kind of coloured tofu in, perhaps flavoured with red bean paste or green tea. I can't remember the names for these, but they made really tasty and refreshing desserts.

So there you have it. There are many more varieties and ways of serving tofu, but I've basically just listed those I've tried or that I eat on a regular basis.

Even the most hardened anti-vegetarian would have to admit that it is at least a very versatile ingredient, and after trying some of the dishes above, might even have to (perhaps begrudgingly admit) that it can also be very tasty.

After all, 120 million Japanese people can't all be wrong can they?

I have to say that i really like tofu, in fact Mat and I have just had it stir fried for dinner and it was lovely!

Posted by Alex at 2003/07/16 21:29:07.

YOU KNOW HOW TO MAKE INARI SUSHI!!???

Recipe, please. Now. That's an order. So there.

Posted by Mark at 2003/07/18 12:06:26.

At first, I found eating tofu a little of a sad experience. But I agree with John, once you try a few different varieties you're into a different world!

I have to say though, that as a veggie, I prefer to make food that comes from vegetables, rather than pretend meat products. Tofu is somewhere in between to me...

Posted by tom at 2003/07/20 10:06:18.

No tofu isn't a pretend meat product at all! It has existed for thousands of years, and both the Chinese and the Japanese often cook it alongside meat and fish. It's an ingredient in it's own right, like cheese is or mushrooms are. It's only a meat substitute in the sense that everyone needs protein, meat eaters generally get it from meat, and vegetarians have to look elsewhere. Tofu happens to be a high protein product. I'd still eat it if it wasn't though.

Posted by John at 2003/07/20 11:39:47.

Can you tell me where I can buy Japanese bread crumbs?
Thank ypu

Posted by Helen Lewin at 2003/11/27 10:32:47.

Hooray!! I'm sick of hearing people say tofu is bland. I am glad to read your opinion on tofu and about what the Japanese in particular do with it.
It is probably my favorite aspect of Japanese cuisine. Hooray for Abura-age! Inari-zushi! I hope I get it everyday to eat in the afterlife.
For the person who asked about inari, just type in "inari recipe" on a search engine. It's fun to make!
I'm going to make gammodoki this week. I'm excited!

Posted by Carrie at 2005/12/28 01:42:20.

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