A month of soy
Monday, February 04, 2008
Welcome to February and the February Tofu Challenge!
For the month of February, we’re challenging ourselves and our readers to create one meal each week using locally made tofu. We’re lucky here in Philly to have a few local companies who make tofu - one is Fresh Tofu and the other is Nature Soy in Chinatown. Each of these tofu makers produces several varieties!
In my house right now, I have two blocks of tofu from Fresh Tofu - one refrigerated and one frozen. I also have tofu noodles and pressed Chinese Five Spice tofu from Sun Kee. What will I make? Well, I’m not too sure. I’m not a big eater of tofu. I’ve been scouring the internet and my collection of cookbooks for some ideas. This will no doubt be a very exciting month for me - I love having the opportunity to cook new things!
I’d like to invite FTP readers to join us in Tofu Challenge Month - email me if you’re interested in having your tofu meals profiled here every week!
I really love tofu most of the time. But it confuses the hell out of me in terms of cooking it. In the past years, I’ve managed to buy/use the wrong kind several times, not drain it properly, freeze it improperly (what’s the proper way to do it anyway?), and let a lot of it go to waste in the fridge because I was just too chicken to cook it. :( I’d love to break out of that rut (I’d love to break out of my fear of making hummus rut too...I have such weird cooking hang-ups for a veganish person...).
There has been a growing movement in my family to eat local and grow our own stuff. I lived with my dietician sister-in-law for awhile when I was younger and she being a vegetarian sometime made tofu dishes. I can’t think of one that I like and really didn’t acquire a taste for the stuff. There have been no dishes in vegetarian restaurants where I said “I’ll have that again” but hey I’m a decent cook and if someone has a knock your socks off change your mind recipe, I’ll give it one more go. Outside of that, I have to pass.