A friend of mine - let's call him Nick, because that's his name - maintains that he doesn't like tofu.
Madness, I tell you, madness. How can anyone not like tofu?
Sure I'm a bit biased, because I could quite happily mainline the stuff and because I'm vegan and not liking tofu is probably against the ten vegan commandments but, to me, it's impossible not to like.
The beauty of tofu can take on the taste of anything you put on it, so if you don't like it, you've probably just not flavoured it with something you like. Or you've just not flavoured it at all, which would be the equivalent of trying to eat slightly damp, farty cotton wool crossbred with rubber and, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't like it then.
But if you flavour it with a load of nuts, some veggies and some other gubbins you've found in your cupboard, like I have here, there's no reason tofu can't be all warm and comforting.
The tofu I used in this is Clean Bean, made by a company in Brick Lane, I think. It's got a nice fluffy texture. Try it. You'll like it, honest.
You can't not like tofu, right? That would be madness.
Carrot, courgette and corn bake
Two shallots
Two cloves of garlic
1oz of pumpkin seeds
1oz of cashew nuts
325g of firm tofu (Clean Bean is pretty cracking)
One heaped dessertspoon of gram flour (or normal white flour)
Three heaped dessertspoons of tahini
Two dessertspoons of soy sauce
One dessertspoon of mirin
One dessertspoon of white miso
One medium carrot (about 4oz)
One medium courgette (about 4oz)
3oz of sweetcorn
Salt and pepper
How you do it
In a food processor (or in a mixing bowl with a stick blender), pulse the garlic, shallots, pumpkin seeds and cashew nuts together until completely blended.
Chop the tofu, add to the mix and blend again.
Stir in the flour, tahini, soy sauce, miso and mirin.
Top and tail the carrot and courgette and grate them both into a clean tea towel. Then gather the tea towel's corners together and wring out the liquid from the veggies.
Stir the carrot, courgette and sweetcorn into the tofu mixture, mix well and pour into a pyrex dish.
Cook at 200C for 45 minutes, or until set. Serve with new potatoes and a salad.
0 comments