Cathy's Tofu

A dear friend of mine enjoys tofu, her name is Cathy. I see daily a friend, Jeff, make amazing tofu dishes. I asked him lots of questions how to cook with firm tofu and his tips were spot on. The most difficult part of this dish was to get past the word.."TOFU". I imagined it slimy and gross, when actually it was delish. NO REALLY!

For those that aren't familiar, let's explore the forbidden word, Tofu, also known as bean curd, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness. I used extra firm tofu and pressed it between paper towels with a heavy pan on top. This will press out the water that the tofu has absorbed. This needs to be done over time and I let mine press for almost three hours.

Tofu originated in China and has been consumed within China for over 2,000 years. It is also a traditional component of other cuisines such as Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Thailand. In Western cooking it is sometimes treated as a meat substitute. In this recipe, it was the star of the dish!

Let's get cooking, you'll need:

1 block extra firm tofu

1 apple

1 small onion

12 red seedless grapes

1/2 cup butternut squash

3 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp Moroccan Spice Mix

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup oats

Sprinkle of sesame seeds

In a non stick fry pan, heat the oil. Cut the tofu into cubes and pat into the oats. This will act as a breading for the tofu. Carefully drop into the hot pan and quickly fry the tofu. Once browned, pull out and put on a paper towel to drain.

Slice the onion thinly and add to the pan with the Moroccan Spice Mix and cinnamon. Cook the onion until it's translucent. Prepare the apple into "match sticks" do not take the skin off the apple, it's the texture that this dish cries for. Cook until the apple is soft.

I cheated on this dish and used frozen, cubed butternut squash. Hey, why re-invent the wheel when frozen tastes just as good. Add the squash to the fry pan with the apples and onions.

I drizzled the maple syrup over the mixture and added the fried tofu back into the pan. Toss so the tofu is coated with the delicious mixture. Slice the grapes in half and toss into the pan.

I put this on a flat plate and used celery leaves as a garnish. The final touch was sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

You'll never look at tofu the same way ever again!