Tofu and Lent Season

I don’t like to cook especially because it can get boring sometimes. This is Lent season and my husband was going to be a priest before we met, so I always have to become more than creative during these 40 days out of respect for his beliefs. I’m catholic but he practices our faith more than I do. Last year I fixed seafood almost every day and although it is good for a man to eat sea food <> I hate how my kitchen smells during and after the food is done. I decided to try Asian food this week and of course I had to try and make tofu. I’ve heard tofu can be really hard to make and can turn into a mushy thing that looks more like baby food, but after some research on internet and the tips of a facebook friend (who’s vegan) I realized tofu is super easy to make, is healthy, and yummy! Which is important for my children :0)

I bought the extra firm tofu at the commissary which was around $1.50 . There's another brand more expensive like $1.99 but I tried the cheap one in case it ended up in the trash.

I drained the tofu block for 15-20 minutes using paper towels and a heavy dish on top of it, cut it in half, and then each half in thirds, and those thirds in thirds, and those thirds in triangles. Then "fried" it without any oil, so the water that was left inside could evaporate. My friend adviced me to use bread crumbs so it wouldn't stick to the pan but since I didn't have any at home and couldn't go to the commy (car is broken) I went ahead and used rice wheat. It helped a lot because it didn't stick at all and gave it a crunchy texture on the outside.

In about 10-15 minutes they looked like this!

After I was done with the tofu, added canola spray to the pan and stir fried Asian vegerables (including bamboo shoots) in soy sauce, pepper & garlic, and recaito (Puerto Rican mix of herbs in virgin oil). Then I added the tofu and pour a bit more of soy sauce so it could absorb the sauce flavor too.

This is the end result! I served with rice noodles and the kids and D loved it, they even went for seconds and asked me to make the same dish for Good Friday. I can't wait to try more tofu recipes, the next one I think will be lemon & rosemary baked tofu :0) My daughter already asked me to make egg rolls using tofu! Their Asian genes are kicking in!!!