How Can I Solve My Tofu Dilemma?

What’s wrong with soft tofu? It is delicious. Any type of tofu is delicious except deep fried, yuck.

I would steam it. It will never be the same consistency as firm tofu, but if you steam it it will hold together, and it tastes good.

How soft is it? If you can slice it (even if it doesn’t retain the basic shape) you could attempt to make mabo dofu. It will work incorporating the marinade that you’ve already poured on it.
Here’s the recipe, which requires meat. Here is a vegan alternative.

If the tofu is in a bowl with the marinade you might consider just popping the whole thing into the oven to heat it. But @rabbitheart ‘s recipe looks delicious.

Mmmmm, mabo dofu! GA!

I appreciate the responses, but I just can’t imagine steaming this tofu, it is too mushy! My husband used to order something called Mapo, I think that is similar to the mabo and it does sound good. It is basically what I have but seems as if I should add some black bean paste as well. That sounds great, then I will stir fry with whatever veg I find in the fridge and it should taste fine, I’m not sure how it will look but the taste will be good I am sure.

I am still open though if anyone else has a suggestion.

@rooeytoo: Soft tofu can be used in salad dressing to cut down on oil. Make whatever kind of vinaigrette you like but substitute soft tofu for some oil; then throw in a blender to emulsify. If you make it thicker and add spices, etc, you can use it as a dip for crudités.

Whip melted chocolate chips into it to make a chocolate tofu whip. Delicious.

@gailcalled – that is a good idea, I never thought of using it as a thickner. With its sort of tangy taste, I am sure that works well in salad dressing or a dip.

@obodicle – I don’t think I would have come up with that use on my own. But it seems similar to brownies with sour cream in them, I bet the tofu would be just as good. But is there anything that isn’t good with chocolate!

You can also just eat it cold. One of my husband’s favorite recipes is to top cold tofu with grated daikon, grated ginger, a couple of bits of green onion (scallions), and a dollop of soy sauce, and pop it in his mouth. It is tasty and very refreshing.

If your tofu is really soft, more like yogurt, then stir the marinade into it and serve it as a dip for vegetables, such as carrot sticks, celery sticks, and so on.

You can make it into a smoothie.

Hi @Darwin – you told me about eating it raw before and I was thinking about that, but it really is like yogurt, course it might be good on a rice cracker!

@Tink1113 – whew, I don’t think I could drink it with the chillies and onions and all that in it, to me smoothies mean strawberries and banana and pineapple! But I will keep that in mind before I add the spices if I make this mistake again!

@rooeytoo Oh my, I forgot about then sauce! But yes, soft tofu goes good with those kind of smoothies :)

You could use it to make a tofu omelette. Put the tofu into a bowl and add enough eggs to firm the mixture up when you fry it. Good luck.

Tofu omelet, now that sounds pretty good too.

After all these excellent suggestions, I am embarrassed to tell you, I had forgotten a prior engagement and didn’t have time to use it tonight. It is going to be totally marinated for tomorrow’s dinner! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Well here’s the final result. It had marinated for over 24 hours so really had a nice aroma.
I stir-fried finely shredded cabbage with a little red capsicum for extra color and taste then dumped in the tofu. Stir fried it all together until the liquid was pretty well reduced then we ate it over rice. My husband loves tofu so he thought it was great. I am not as fond of it so I will say it was pretty good.

But next time I will make sure to get the really firm kind of tofu, then I can stir fry the slices and pick it out when I eat!

Thanks for all your help and I will probably try some of your suggestions in the future.