The Very Best Tofu

So to start my post today I have some very exciting news! I will be contributing to The Revival Collective's first Zine; Plant Based Revival! It will be a zine dedicated to all aspects of a plant based lifestyle. I am so honoured that they asked me, and I can't wait to see my food in print. If you would like to pre-order (you do, I'm sure you do) the zine you can do so here!

In creating the dish for the zine one of the components was tofu. I cooked the tofu in a new way, and I was super impressed with the results. So impressed I decided to share my tofu secrets with you all.

For this recipe I used smoked tofoo. You definitely don't have to, I have also used plain tofu, but I really like the added smokey flavour it gives. I also really like that with tofoo you don't have the faff of pressing the tofu, it's just time saving. If you use traditional tofu and are unsure how to press it, no worries, I will leave a note at the end of this post! *

Ok I'm not sure if I should tell you this or not, I hope this doesn't make some of you go eww. But do you remember turkey Twizzlers? If you are reading from outside the UK, you probably sat there like huh? But they were basically on the school dinner menu of every British school in the 90s, until Jamie Oliver came along and told everyone they were fatty heart attack inducing, processed pieces of meat designed to clog the arteries of our nations darling children. And suddenly turkey twizzlers were gone, school children every where mourned the loss. Because, even though I'm vegan I can't lie, they were really friggin tasty. Well this tofu reminded me of the flavour of turkey twizzlers, there was something about the sticky sauce that brought flooding back memories of school halls with sticky floors, plastic trays, and lumpy custard. And I mean that in the best way possible! And I promise this tofu won't give anyone a heart attack.

In fact tofu is really great for you. I've talked through my love of tofu so many times on this blog, but I'll say it again for those at the back. It's a mean protein machine, and contains all eight amino acids! It is also an excellent source of iron and calcium and the minerals manganese, selenium and phosphorous. And despite all the scare news soy is not bad for you. One of the main myths that surrounds soy is that it's high in estrogen; too much estrogen could have a negative effect on health, such as increased risk of breast cancer potentially. The estrogen in soy however is weak phytoestrogen. Your body's estrogen is much, much stronger than the phytoestrogen in soy. Some studies have even linked soy with a reduced risk of breast cancer, all though most of these studies have been carried out in Asia, where soy consumption is much higher from a young age and the diet is healthier as a whole.

I paired my tofu, with udon noodles from Clearspring, (I got these in a goodie bag after a workshop with the lovely Sara from Shisodelicous at Whole Foods. More to come on that in a blog post hopefully going up next week! I'm just waiting on a couple of bits to arrive in the post.) spiralised courgette, and edamame. I topped if of with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and blue cornflowers over the top. But seriously this tofu can go with anything. Obviously watch out for Plant based Revival to see what else I have been up to with it.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 block of tofu ( I used this one, but any firm or extra firm tofu will do)

1 tablespoon siracha

1 tablespoon sesame oil (plus a small amount more for frying)

1 tablespoon tamiri

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon agave syrup

Method

1) Dice pressed tofu *(if you are unsure of how to press tofu please see the note before).

2) Place a small drizzle of sesame oil into a frying pan. Once hot add the tofu and fry. 3) In a jug mix together the sriracha, sesame oil, tamiri, vinegar and agave.

4) Once the tofu until it is golden and crispy, pour over the sauce.

5) Coat the tofu in the sauce and continue to fry for a couple of minutes. Until the tofu has a sticky coating.

6) Dig in!

*Note: How to press tofu

1) Remove tofu from packaging draining away all the water it sits in.

2) Place the tofu on a chopping board between two sheets of paper towel.

3) On top of the tofu place another chopping board, on top of this balance heavy pans/ heavy books/ anything else you have lying around the kitchen that is heavy.

4) Leave for at least an hour, the longer you can leave your tofu for the better.