The Importance of Pressing Tofu by Oscar Wilde

Ok, he didn’t exactly write that, but he should have. I used to be in the “just blot it and it will be fine camp” but I have definitely moved over into the “press then marinate camp.”

Tofu is water packed and so absorbs water. Duh. That seems obvious. I used to just blot off the excess and then marinate but sometimes the marinade didn’t seem to soak in as much as I would have liked --even after marinating for several hours. So I tried pressing and was amazed at much drier the tofu felt (duh!) and how easily it cut and didn’t crumble like it did straight out of the packet.

Some people freeze their tofu, then thaw, then press to give it a more “meat like” chewy texture. I’m not really into things that have the mouth feel of meat so just pressing is all I need to do.

How to press your tofu:

You need

1. Some tofu (duh!) I use 200g packets of Taifun tofu as my ‘fu of choice

2. Something clean to wrap it in (I use tie dyed bandanas cos I‘m hippy like that)

3. Something flat to lay on top--a skillet works well

4. Something heavy to lay on top of the flat thing

Disclaimer: After mentioning my erstwhile assistant in the last post,  it was pointed out by said assistant that *maybe* I should learn to use the camera myself. He’s right. I will always be a sheep and letting someone do the tricky bits until I am required to be the shepherd. So if any of the pix are wonky--blame me.

Open your packet of tofu and carefully shake off as much moisture as you can and wrap it in your clean cloth. This picture is a bit washed out as I didn’t know how to use the flash yet.

Lay something flat on top. You could use your skillet, but I use this Welsh slate trivet with a hedgehog on it. Too cute!

Lay something heavy on top and go away for 15 minutes. I use an unopened carton of chocolate Oatly as we always have extras hoarded away for fear of running out of the stuff.

Come back and unwrap your now wet cloth and put on a second clean, dry cloth and cover with the flat thing and heavy thing and go away for 15 more minutes.

(I forgot to get a pictures of this step, but honestly I am sure you are clever enough to picture it in your head, right?)

That’s it! Unwrap your ‘fu and it is dry and ready to slice and marinate.

Stay tuned until tomorrow when I show you the recipe for Bombay Tofu!!!