I just bought Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry, and it has tofu recipes in it.  I should have known by the “vegan” in the title, but I optimistically hoped it might be more centered on beans, which seemed like the more traditional choice.

I don’t love tofu, but O does.  He eats it strait out of the package, which is fine for a toddler.  But I had almost given up on it.  Then yesterday I took a leap of faith and made Blackened Tofu Slabs with Succotash Salsa.   Romeo declared it the best tofu he’s ever eaten.

It think one of the reasons we don’t always like plant based food is that we are busy and spend all of our energy on the meat- the main dish.  But with tofu, it’s about planning ahead, not laboring.  You can’t just plop a pound of extra firm tofu on the grill and expect it to be appetizing.  (You wouldn’t be able to do this with meat either, except that when most meat is processed, it is injected with a brine or broth which contains salt and other seasonings.)

Even extra firm tofu has too much moisture in it for an application like this.  Bryant Terry recommends freezing and thawing it, and then pressing the extra water out by wrapping it in paper towels and weighing it down.  I’ve also had good results by salting (or drizzling soy sauce) and baking slowly before using it in a recipe.

This made for a beautiful, tasty and satisfying meal without too much effort.