[Closed] Gone veggie for a week....

Well, I've just finished eating home-cooked organic leg of roast lamb, bio-dynamically farmed in Hampshire. Even if I say so myself, it was absolutely delicious. 8)

Give up good quality meat? Never!

Turn it into a tofu chocolate moose. Or is that mouse haha.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/25/vegetarian-recipes-black-pepper-tofu

Throw it in the bin.

helpful as ever, STW!

THM, what type of tofu is it? firm, soft, silken? flavoured already at all?

Lol @ Kuco. 😀

not my favourite food stuff tbh but you can make a sort of scrambled egg type thing

It crumbles fairly easy and just cook with whatever veg you have - I usually use mushrooms [ tomatoes are too liquidy IME], onions pepper , perhaps some courgette Wocester sauce for flavour - NB the real stuff has anchovies

cook veg first add tofu to heat basically

I quite like it fried so it is crunchy ion the outside - cut it sort 2 inch by 1 inch or the middle dries as well and you get crutonsEDIT: you can use any type for my recipe FWIW

The flavoured stuff is much better IMHO

rob81 +1 -my local chinese does that black pepper tofu (but call it salt & spicy beancurd) and it's well nice.
Otherwise, I have been veggie for 15 years and never found much else yummy to do with tofu besides various permutations of wet or dry stir fry.
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/scouse_eggs_95239 ]Bit I might have a go at this soon. [/url] 😀

I eat veggie (inc fish) probably half the week these days. I hate Tofu and what this teaches you is not to buy any more 🙂

Marinate in soy sauce, garlic, black pepper and a drop of sesame oil. Fry until golden brown then chuck it in a stir fry or a salad.

Thanks rob, looks nice but v similar to what I have just cooked.
Xherb - not sure, it's cauldron original tofu. Guessing unflavoured and in a sealed lump. I have marinated some quorn as an experiment this week and essentially stir fried it - no recipes just winging it - but need a new idea for the tofu.

It's only a temporary (at the moment) thing CG in prep for a half Mara in a few weeks. Washing up a meaty pan and looking at all the gunk made me feel like a change for a week or two. So far it's been delicious and 3lbs down. The later could be the hard intervals yesterday and the 8 miler XC run today though! Still ELMM!!!!

Trouble with this veggie stuff, it looks so good I am not actually doing the EL bit!!!

Looks like another stir fry variation then! I guess the key is the marinade??

I am 99% veggie! every once in a while I eat sausages (I do not want to give them up) but even I would chuck tofu in the bin.

😕

IME, despite the claims, it does not absorb any marinade flavour hence why the flavoured stuff

http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?PID=2636&searchterm=tofu&rdcnt=1

or the varieties from here

https://taifun-tofu.de/en/produkte/taifun_tofu_produkte.php?NID1=3&NID2=9&NID3=0&ProdGr=9

Both dearer than cauldron but worth it

bio-dynamically farmed

WTF does that even mean? Sounds cruel..... 😉
I prefer lamb from sheep that have been running around in a (Preferable Welsh) field somewhere.

🙂

It is cruel. Just makes the consumer feel better is all.

I have never eaten meat or fish in all my life & I hate tofu. A friend made some sort of bake with it once which wasn't too bad.

Goes well in Thai curry

Eating tofu isn't going to convert you.

Go for actual vegetables instead mate.

on and off veggie for most of my life but got to agree with the above. chuck it in the bin. my rule is if a labrador wont eat it its not food

Miso based soup with ginger and chilli worked in somehow and cubes of plain tofu floating in the middle of the bowl and chopped spring onions on top. You have to appreciate it for its blandness or not at all.

If you're intent on this meat replacement stuff try the Kosher sossies from health food stores. Can't remember who make them but they're Ace!
Also look out for Wicken Fen goodies.

Funny and helpful answers thanks. I lived in Japan in the 80s so not new to tofu. Came in miso soup with pretty much every meal. I quite like it - and really only bought it for the protein. I accept that it's dull in itself.

Cha****ng - eating plenty of vegetables this week!! I am not looking to be converted, just a change for recent meat heavy diet.

Wrap in bacon and fry till crispy.

Remove the filling and eat. Red or brown sauce to taste.

Bumped into a colleague yesterday contemplating buying Tofu steaks for her and husband's tea, he was off looking at beer, told her to forget about it and buy some proper steaks. Her reply was that it's healthy was thinking about trying it. I pulled out to the 2 fat sirloin steaks and just bought at the butchers and showed them to her, she put the bean curd back.

Meat eater prefers steak to tofu shocka

Dan 😀 haven't got that far yet!!!

Meat eater prefers steak to tofu shocka

Yes that was my point well done.

I eat veggie (inc fish)

So not veggie.

The thing I like about being veggie is how my idea of what constitutes a meal has fundamentally changed from how I was bought up. Veggie food for me has been heavily influenced by the explosion we have had in this country from worldwide foods to which it often lends itself naturally.

I'd try to leave out meat-substitutes (chuck it in the bin) and really get into what fantastic stuff is out there from all over the world.

I've never found Tofu either tasty or easy to use. We all like easy food now and again though so maybe get some frozen Linda McCartney type stuff to wang in the oven now and again.

Glad you're seeing the benefits. 🙂

Tofu is nice roasted with a load of vegetables...

Noone has mentioned scrambled tofu? With some nice mushies and lots of paprika. Best if you can get it a wee bit crispy on the bottom.

The ultimate acquired taste is the Chinese fermented tofu... stinks but surprisingly nice if you can get it past your nose.

Thanks - roast it with vegetables! Greta's idea! Just looked up some recipes. Parsnips, carrots, broccoli and tofu roasted together. Sounds good. Maybe some parmasan on the parsnips!?!

Last time I showed my neighbour my meat in a supermarket, I was arrested.

in terms of texture, cauldron brand is unlike pretty much any other brand of tofu. and not in a good way sadly.
but if i absolutely had to eat cauldron again, i think i'd press it to get as much of the liquid out as possible, then crumble it with my hands and make tofu scramble with softened chopped shallots, chopped red pepper, leeks, crushed garlic, a small chunk of fresh turmeric peeled and grated, a few sliced chestnut or small portobello mushrooms, a small red chili finely chopped, a dash of soy sauce and a teaspoon of turmeric powder stirred into it all.

but that's just me.

i quite like cooking with tofu.

Agree with the others, you don't need meat substitutes like Tofu and Quorn to be vegi. Eat it, then don't buy any more 🙂

Since when was tofu a meat substitute? And quorn is just muck...

As above, the tofu was for protein not a meat sub. Ok, the quorn was. I quite liked it for an easy meal. Not looking for meat subs anyway, the quorn was more of a one off. Reckon I have eaten a lot more protein this week.

Well, I've just finished eating home-cooked organic leg of roast lamb, bio-dynamically farmed in Hampshire. Even if I say so myself, it was absolutely delicious.

I just ate a chicken. Not a poncy one. No pseudo science. Kitchen-cooked, tray-roasted, chicken-farm-farmed in Phuket. Very tasty.

Back on-topic, chop it up into thin slices ad flour it. Fry it with salt, butter and pepper. Not meat, but not bad.

As a vegan I confirm that tofu is shit!

Japanese do a good job of it in sushi though.

[img] [/img] You could always make some stinky tofu. If anyone ever says that tofu tastes bland should try some of this! It tastes like pigs smells, is the best way I can describe it but after a while it became my favourite dish in Taiwan!

As a veggie of 20 years plus, I never got on with tofu.

I use Quorn mince / chunks a lot. The key thing to remember though is that you can't cook it like meat, the mince especially. I've seen recipes for stuff like (meat) spag bol or chilli which involve simmering for hours to tenderise the meat, if you do that with Quorn you'll end up with slurry.

If I'm cooking something that needs to be cooked for ages, I'll chuck the mince in ten - fifteen minutes before it's due to come off, it only really needs warming through. Alternatively, frying it off first and then adding it makes it a bit more robust.

IME when people say they don't like Quorn, it's almost always because they've boiled the arse out of it for an hour.

tofu is the same as any food item, in that some people like it and some people don't.
doesn't mean it's "shit". it's actually an incredibly versatile source of protein as the different types of it can be used in many different dishes, e.g. i can blend soft silken tofu with melted dark chocolate and freshly squeezed orange juice then put it in bowls and refrigerate overnight to make a choc orange mousse, or i can press and crumble regular firm tofu then mash with a fork along with finely chopped basil, nutritional yeast flakes, crushed garlic and seasoning to make a soft cheese style ravioli/canneloni filling, or i could just marinate chunks/strips of it then fry or bake...
if you take it for what it is, it's a handy thing to have in the fridge (if you're veggie/vegan). if not, then that's fine.

the amusing/sad thing is that if someone had asked about how to use some cut of meat and one of the forum veggies had replied saying "it's shit", you lot would have been all over them.

Only one person said it was "shit" and that person was a vegan. Whilst I don't disagree with anything you've said, it seems a little unfair to be pulling up the carnivores for it.

Been a strict vegetarian for 30 years and definitely don't need a "meat substitute" of any description. I never got on with tofu either, but as a recent convert to Quorn, I think it's quite good (not in the meat flavoured variations, obviously!)