Soft/Silken

Soft/silken tofu is undrained tofu, and it contains the highest moisture content of all fresh tofus. Its texture can be described as similar to that of very fine custard. In Korea and Japan, traditional soft tofu is made with seawater. Because it is nearly impossible to pick up this type of tofu with chopsticks, it is generally eaten with a spoon. Edamame tofu, which I had once at a Japanese restaurant, is a Japanese type of tofu made from edamame (fresh green soybeans); it is pale green in color and often studded with whole edamame.

Now, you’d pretty much use silken or soft tofu when you want to make something creamy, such as puddings, mousses, and pie fillings. You can also use it for salad dressings and sauces, and silken tofu also works great in baked goods instead of using chicken’s eggs. I’ll get back to that in a sec.

So, when you go to look for silken tofu in the grocery store, you may find soft and silken in the refrigerated section. But you may also notice that silken tofu is packaged in aseptic boxes that do not require refrigeration. Mori-nu is the most popular/common brand of this type, and it will usually be found in the Asian section, by the soy sauce, etc. If you don’t use the whole amount, as with all tofu, submerge it in water in a container, and store it in the fridge once you open it. Changing the water daily will help keep the tofu fresh for up to one week. But you can keep this vacuum-packed/aseptic box of tofu in your cupboard for up to a year without opening it.

It can start to get confusing when you look at the aseptic box of tofu and notice that – even though it says "silken" — it will also say soft, firm, or extra firm. These are just degrees within the texture of silken tofu itself, and you can notice slight variations. So, even if it says "extra firm," this is not the type of tofu you’re going to take home to grill or stir fry. It’s much too soft for such a purpose. Anyway, in terms of these variations within silken tofu, my advice would be to follow recipes as they’re noted (if a recipe calls for Silken Soft, use it; if a recipe calls for Silken Firm use it). But in general, silken firm is a good standard to use for making silky, creamy dishes.

I mentioned before that silken tofu is also great to use in baked goods instead of chicken’s eggs. You can find information about this in a podcast episode called Better Than Eggs, but you can also pre-order my new baking book, The Joy of Vegan Baking for more details on baking without chicken’s eggs. Here are some tips for using silken tofu. Whip ¼ cup of silken tofu in a blender or food processor until it’s smooth and creamy, leaving no chunks. You may need to turn off the food processor and scrape down the sides.

I find the silken tofu “egg” works best when you want rich, dense, moist cakes and brownies, but you can use a little less to create lighter cakes, such as our Blueberry Orange Cake, which is one recipe in our Tofu and Tempeh recipe packets. There are other recipes in that section, which call for silken tofu, such as the No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie and the Chocolate Pudding Tart with Raspberry Sauce. They’re also in the new cookbook, but if you can’t wait, you can order them online in our online cookbook recipe packages.

Many grocery stores carry the Mori-Nu silken tofu these days, but you should definitely find it in a natural foods store. If your local grocery doesn’t carry it, request it. Look for vacuum-packed silken tofu on the shelves rather than in the refrigerated section. If you still can’t find it, I sell it in my online store, and it’s the organic one that I sell. Because soy beans are a highly sprayed crop, and many soy beans are genetically modified, I do recommend buying organic anytime you’re buying a soy bean-based food, whether it’s tofu, tempeh, soy milk, miso, or just edamame soy beans. As the standards are now, if something is certified organic, it is not genetically modified. But stay tuned.

Firm/Extra Firm Tofu

You’d use firm or extra firm tofu when you want to grill it, bake it, stir-fry it, stick it on a skewer – basically when you want it to keep its shape. So even if you’re using it for something like an eggless egg salad, the recipe for which is also in my online cookbook as well as demonstrated on our cooking DVD, you still want extra firm tofu, because you still want it to have body, you still want it to have texture.

Now, the more you cook with tofu, the more you understand what textures and brands work best for your purposes. I’ve raved about Wildwood’s tofu for years, and I continue to rave. Their super firm is really a fantastic tofu, and its distribution is spreading far and wide, so ask your local grocer to carry it. It’s really firm and full of texture, and it’s just delicious. But, because it’s so firm – the SUPER firm, that is – if I’m making something like a tofu scramble, I like to use a combination of extra firm and super firm – or even firm and extra firm. If I use all super firm, the result might be scramble that’s too rubbery, so I just know I like to do a variation of textures to get the result I want. And you’ll get there, too.

Same goes for something like medium tofu. If a recipe asks for medium, just use it, but I don’t really use it that often. Again, as you get more comfortable with the different textures of tofu, you’ll know what brand and texture you need based on the dish you’re making.

Freezing Tofu

Another thing you can do with firm, extra firm, and super firm tofu is freeze it, and this is my favorite thing to do. So you come home from the store, tofu in hand, and it should be in a tub of water or at least in a vacuum-sealed package with water. Just throw the whole thing in the freezer. Don’t open it, don’t do anything: just throw it in the freezer.

When you’re ready to use it, take it out of the freezer, thaw it out on the counter for a few hours – basically, before you go to work. It thaws faster on the counter than in the fridge, so just thaw it on the counter and perhaps not in direct sunlight. Now, open up the package, and dump out the water, etc. At this point, you’ll want to hold the block of tofu over a large bowl or over the sink, and squeeeeeze out all the water. It will literally be like a sponge. Tons of water comes out after you’ve thawed it.

So what’s the advantage of doing this? Well, you’ve squeezed out all this water, and you can literally see how porous the tofu is. So what does that mean? Well, you’ve gotten rid of all that water and created all this room/all these pores for a marinade to soak into the tofu. So, marinate the tofu in your favorite marinade for an hour or even over night. Then, add it to your sauté pan with just a little oil – or just on a nonstick pan with no oil at all – or put it on the grill. It’s delicious.
The other thing you’ve done is change the texture completely. Tofu already has great texture when it’s really firm, but it’s even chewier after having been frozen and thawed. I, personally, like the texture even better than if it wasn’t frozen at all, and I LOVE just regular tofu. I usually use this chewier tofu on my salads – just cut up into little cubes. I just love the texture. Also, at this point, it’s also great to crumble up and add to pasta sauce or to chili. It’s very chewy, and some people really like it that way because it adds that satisfaction that people seemingly get from chewing fat/flesh.

I’ve heard naysayers of vegetarianism say "well, vegetarians clearly have some kind of latent desire to eat meat if they want to eat vegetarian meats or if they ’seek out’ that meaty, chewy texture.’ And I couldn’t disagree more. People don’t necessarily stop eating animal flesh because they stopped liking it – they stop eating animal flesh because they don’t want to contribute to animal cruelty. Also, we don’t crave the flesh of animals. We’re not true carnivores who salivate at the thought of eating bloody muscles and raw flesh and sinews and tendons. In fact, that makes us really sick. What we do crave is flavor, we crave familiarity, we crave texture. So there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting that chewiness, that texture. So, there you have it. Freeze it, thaw it, squeeze out the water, and enjoy the chewy texture.

Now I just talked about how to press tofu to get the water out by freezing it and thawing it. You can press the tofu without freezing and thawing it first, but you don’t really press out as much water as when you use this other method. But if you wanted to try it, you can just wrap the tofu block in a dish towel, put it on a plate, and put something heavy like a bunch of heavy books or a heavy pot. 20 minutes later or so the towel will be soaked through with water, and you’ve pressed out some water, but again, it’s not as much as if you freeze it first. Try it yourself, and you’ll see what I mean.

We still have more to say! In Part III, I’ll offer some very specific ideas for preparing tofu!

Ingredients
1-1/2 pounds tofu, extra firm or super firm*
1/2 cup eggless mayonnaise (Nayonnaise and Vegenaise are great, but Wildwood’s Garlic Aioli is my fave)
2 red bell peppers, finely chopped
4 scallions (white and green parts), finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
4 teaspoons pickle relish
1-1/2 tablespoons prepared mustard
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
Black pepper, to taste
10 slices good-quality sliced bread

Directions
1. In a large bowl, mash tofu with a fork, potato masher, or your hands.

2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

3. Spread a few tablespoons of the tofu mixture on the bottom bread slices. Top with remaining slices of bread. (Toasted slices make this even more scrumptious!)

4. Carefully cut the crusts off the sandwiches with a sharp knife. Cut in half diagonally, then cut in half again so you’re left with small triangle-shaped finger sandwiches. (Throw the crust out to the grateful birds.)

*A word about tofu: There are many different types of tofu available, ranging from silken and soft to firm and extra firm - and even super firm, in the case of my favorite brand, Wildwood Organics, but there are also differences within those variations depending on the brand you buy or the way it’s packaged. The perfect textured tofu for this dish is one that is very firm. I recommend an extra-firm tofu (in the refrigerated section of the grocery store). Wildwood brand is my favorite, but if you can’t find it or can only find one that is in a tub of water, you might want to press out the water first. To press tofu: just dump the water and give the tofu a quick rinse. Wrap the tofu in a towel and place on a plate. Place something heavy on the tofu and leave it there for about 20-30 minutes; the towel will be soaked through.

Serving suggestions:

*Wonderful as a sandwich filling on a hard roll or stuffed in a pita
*Serve on crackers as an appetizer or party dish
*Serve as a side salad – great for picnics and BBQs!

Variation suggestion:

*Use cubed, steamed tempeh for a “better than chicken” salad.
*Use potatoes for a tasty potato salad.
*Use garbanzo beans/chickpeas for a “better than tuna” salad. (Grind the beans in a food processor for a tuna-like size and texture.

Other tofu recipes can be found at www.compassionatecooks.com

Also on GO:

All About Tofu - Part 1

I've also seen thousands of people change their diets from one based on animals to one based on plants, and the transition they experience winds up being a lot easier than even they anticipated. Whatever you want to say about how humans eat, the fact is we're not true carnivores. We don't crave flesh the way a lion does: we have neither the strength, claws, teeth, or desire to take down our prey with our bare hands, and we wouldn't die without meat, as would a true carnivore.

The truth is whereas we don't crave the flesh of an animal, we do crave texture. We crave flavor. We crave fat. We crave salt. We also crave satisfaction and familiarity, bringing an entire emotional history to the table when we sit down to eat. When someone says "I tried to eat vegetarian, but I just craved meat," I tell them with confidence that it wasn't meat they were craving. It may have been salt, it may have been fat, it may have been calories, but it most certainly was not the flesh of an animal. Anyone who's ever lived with a true carnivore (i.e. a domestic cat) knows how a carnivore reacts when he spots his prey: teeth chatter, tail flickers, mouth waters. If this happens to you when you spot a bird in your yard or a steer grazing peacefully on the hillside, frankly, I don't want to know.

When we embrace the endless plant options available to us, we recognize a world of foods we didn't even see before. Though we may experience a transition as we let go of certain habits, we can also anticipate the excitement and joy of reshaping old traditions and creating new ones. There's nothing wrong with seeking out familiar-tasting and familiar-looking dishes that we may have enjoyed in the past, because it is the texture and familiarity we still have a right to enjoy.

This "Better Than Tuna Salad" is an example of a dish that provides familiarity and gustatory pleasure without the ethical, environmental, and health concerns associated with eating aquatic animals.

Better-than-Tuna Salad
Serves 4-6, depending on serving style: sandwiches or side dish

1 can organic garbanzo beans/chick peas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup (or more) eggless mayonnaise (Wildwood’s Garlic Aioli, Nayonnaise, or Vegenaise are great options)
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
3 scallions (white and light green parts), finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1-2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
Black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Add the chick peas to a food processor or blender and grind them down into small pieces. You can even grind them down so it becomes somewhat like a thick puree. The ultimate texture is up to you. Grinding the beans is optional, but I find that it’s easier to eat it as a sandwich this way; plus, it really does resemble tuna in taste and texture when the beans are ground up. It's best if you use the "pulse" button on your food processor so you can control the ultimate texture of the beans.

2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Season with salt, pepper, and the amount of aioli/eggless mayonnaise you desire.

Serving Suggestions:

*Wonderful as a sandwich filling on a hard roll or stuffed in a pita
*Serve on crackers as an appetizer or party dish
*Serve as a side salad – great for picnics and BBQs!

Variation Suggestions:

*Of course you may also use beans made from scratch, as opposed to canned beans.
*Use cubed, steamed tempeh for a “Better Than Chicken Salad."
*Use potatoes for a tasty potato salad.
*Use mashed extra firm tofu for an “eggless egg” salad.
*The walnuts are optional, but they add a really nice texture.
*You may sprinkle some kelp flakes in as well, to really add to the “fishy” flavor.

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