I cook a lot. I cook a lot of different things. But every now and then I realize I've been ignoring a huge range of delicious options because of some childish predjudice ("Eww Sushi! I'd never eat raw fish" - how many people are eatting crow from having said that at one time?)
My latest cooking hurdle has been Tofu. Blocks of processed soy bean. Tasteless crap pushed on us by enviro-good-doers and save-the-cute-animals-vegetarians. Or so I was told.
My brother in law is Chinese, and it was when visiting them that I had my eyes opened. Velveted and deep-fired tofu dipped in a simple hosin and chili sauce can be a thing of beauty.
So, eyes opened, I began to look for ways to bring Tofu into our diet. Last night I made Tofu & shitaki mushrooms in a black bean chili sauce that would rival any chinese take away. And I did it for $6 (including fresh shanghai noodles, a pound of organic tofu, and a pound of shitaki mushrooms). More than three pounds of awsome chinese take-away for $6 and 30 minutes of my time (about the same time it would take to have delivered actually).
A lot of the advice I've read for introducing tofu is to hide it: Break it up and put it into a spaghetti sauce - no one will know it isn't cheap ground beef!
Here's my gauntlet throw-down: Cook one simple meal with Tofu as the meat. Put the tofu front and centre, no hiding it in shame.
Some notes on using Tofu:
Tofu is sold in different firmnesses, soft, medium, firm, extra firm. The softer it is, the cheaper is it, but also the more water is in it. If you're going to be using Tofu like a cheese, use soft or medium, otherwise get as firm as you can.
Just before you cook the tofu, put it on a cutting board with a towel under and over it. Squish the tofu to try and push out any excess water.
Dry fry the tofu with just a few spices (I like chinese five spice, cumin, and chili flakes) for five to ten minutes (let it firm up some, if it has a mushy texture cook it longer - no one wants mushy 'meat'). Put it aside, cook the rest of your dish, and put the tofu back in when you'd normally add your cooked meat. So far this has worked very well for stir-fries.