Adventures In Tofu

I like tofu but have never cooked with it, mainly because I didn't want any grief from the kids.  (Or Lance, truth be told.)  But this week I finally decided to heck with that.  I'm the one who does all the cooking, and if I want tofu we're havin' tofu!

So there.

I found a recipe for Asian Noodle Salad with Sesame Tofu Bites in Family Fun magazine that looked promising, so I decided to try it out.  It sounded really good and easy, plus the tofu was pan fried, which I thought might win Lance over.  (He lives by the principle that anything fried is good.  It's a good principle.)

Here's my very first ever block of tofu.  And my Santoku knife.  I love Santoku knives.

It smelled like... well, like nothing, really.  That's the beauty of tofu.  It'll take on any flavor you give it.

I cut the tofu into triangles and then put it on a cookie sheet that had several layers of paper towel on it.  More paper towels went on top of that and then another cookie sheet.

This was topped off with a rather large and heavy pot.  I wanted to get as much moisture out of the tofu as possible.

While the tofu was drying I worked on cooking the udon noodles, making the dressing, and chopping the veggies.  Tess worked on being cute and not under any circumstances smiling for the camera.  (Which is too bad because she's doing that adorable mouth-opened-all-the-way smile right now.  Who knew toothless gums could be so cute?)

Side note: Tess is now also just starting to think she needs to be entertained all the time.  I have tried explaining to her that she is in the wrong family if she thinks that's going to happen, but she doesn't listen.  She just whines and whines until I either look at and talk to her or pick her up.  This is where she ended up during the middle of my tofu adventures.

She loves her playmat, but tonight she only played with it for ten minutes before she started whining again, this time because she wanted to be entertained and she was tired.  She was then politely put to bed, where she let her displeasure be known.  Loudly.

Back to the tofu.  It dried quite a bit!

So then I pressed each side into sesame seeds

 

and then put them into a frying pan with some oil.

Meanwhile, I put the noodles, veggies, and dressing together.  Oh, and cilantro.  I live by the principle that you can never have too much cilantro in your life.  Never.

Once the tofu had fried to a golden brown on each side I put in the sauce, which bubbled up and caramelized into yummy tofu goodness.

And here's the finished product.

I thought it was most excellent. It really did taste good, and it's good for you!

I called the tofu Sesame Surprise Triangles.  I really didn't think the boys would fall for it, but they surprised me.  Josh ate one (a minor miracle!), Spencer ate two (amazing!), and Cole ate lots and lots (not so surprising - he eats just about anything we put in front of him).

No, Cole's not in a tofu coma.  He's falling asleep at the dinner table again.

It's hard to fall asleep when Daddy is cleaning you up.

Poor sleepy (and full of tofu) Cole!

Tess was out of her crib (she never did fall asleep, pesky baby!) and at her most favorite place to be during dinner: on my lap.  (We've tried the high chair - she's not a fan.)  And of course since we were eating she wanted to eat, too.  She had to settle for my thumb instead of tofu.

Verdict?  I would totally make something with tofu again.  It's cheap, healthy, and easy to cook with.  It can even be disguised in dessert.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to try this recipe in the near future.