Let's Talk Tofu

I like tofu in restaurants because they always know how to cook it.  For a vegetarian, I actually don't know how to cook it, so I never really eat it.   Tofu is soybean curd (I am having a hard time even writing that because the word "curd" kind of disgusts me for some reason).  It's low in calories and saturated fat, contains no sodium or cholesterol, and is really high in protein.

Well, the other day, I decided that I was going to figure out how to cook it.  This is what I came up with.  Turns out that it's not hard to cook tofu.  The great thing about it, is that tofu picks up whatever flavor you want it to have-- kind of like chicken.  In this recipe, I sauteed leftover broccoli, baby carrots and sugar snap peas in olive oil, garlic, and some Italian herbs (a blend of basic, oregano, red bell pepper, garlic, thyme, fennel and black pepper).  In a separate frying pan, I cut up the tofu into little cubes, and pan fried that with the same type of seasoning.  I cooked that until both sides were browned and crispy.

Okay, so it didn't taste like a restaurant at all.  But it had a nice flavor and served its purpose, which was to provide me with a healthy meal.  I liked that it wasn't saturated in a thick sauce, too.  Too often Chinese and Thai restaurants have their tofu drenched in some sort of liquid.  While it tastes delicious, it also means it's probably not the best for you and are loaded with calories and fat.

I will make this again.  It's super inexpensive, it's easy enough for someone who doesn't know exactly what they're doing in the kitchen, and it's healthy and filling.  This is one of those recipes where you can kind of make it up as you go along.  Try chopped up squash, or fry the tofu with garlic instead.