I had to cancel three trips in the last two months for various reasons. (I got sick, work piled up, I was too lazy to pack, I wanted to finally finish A Dance with Dragons and the hardcover copy was too heavy to lug around.) Holed up at home with two packs of tofu in the fridge, I ended up playing mad scientist in the kitchen with blocks of bean curd as my hapless victims.
Even though tofu has the exciting flavors of soggy cardboard, I’m still fairly happy with having it fried and dipped in soy sauce and kalamansi. This time, I went a couple of steps further and tried to do other things with this vegetarian staple. I’m not a vegetarian, by the way, although I prefer vegetables over meat most of the time. I love isaw (barbecued chicken or pork intestines) and tenga (pig’s ears) too much to give them up.
Experiment 1: Tofu marinated in soy sauce, ketchup, oyster sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and enough cayenne and black pepper to rupture your hemorrhoids. After a few hours of marinating in the fridge, cook the tofu with the marinade on a pan, simmer until all the liquid evaporates, add a little oil, and fry until it turns brown. The tofu turned out to be a tad too salty for my liking but still edible.
Pako (fern) salad as a side dish to neutralize the saltiness of the tofu.
Experiment 2: Tofu cooked in patis (fish sauce), brown sugar, ginger and garlic. This is basically a derivative of the first experiment. In this recipe though, there were equal parts patis and sugar so it was an intense battle of saltiness and sweetness that required another side dish to balance the taste.
Roasted eggplant salad
Experiment 3: Tofu with cheese. Beat one egg, dip the tofu in it and fry until golden brown. Place a slice of cheese on top and allow it to melt before removing from heat. This one is probably the most palatable among the three although the richness of the cheese gets to you after a while.
So I managed to eradicate the entire tofu population in the fridge along with a good portion of condiments and spices. Lesson learned: When all else fails, make a salad. Or better yet, get out of the house more and get a life. There’s only so much you can do with tofu.
Nice post here
Thanks!
Will try 1 of your tofu recipes when I feel the urge/need to cook again. Thanks for sharing:))
Best of luck on the cooking! I hope yours would turn out better than mine.
Tofu with cheese.. mmm, interesting…
I ran out of condiments to dump on the tofu so it was the cheese’s turn on the chopping block (bad pun intended).
Miss ko na luto mo Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin
ehehee
Miss ko na katakawan mo big boy! I’m getting flashbacks of a certain jumbo Batangas lomi. Haha. Emo climb ulit tayo, I’ll cook.
hehehe yey!!!!
lezgo Emo Climb!!! as in this weekend na 
Can it be my turn to be emo? Nyahaha! Di bagay.
Wag muna this weekend. I still got work stuff to do. Weekend after next na lang.
Shoot! are you experiencing some serious drama in the romance department Tin??? hahaha..
sigeeee support group mo ako!!!! 
game ako .. sa date na nisuggest mo 
hihihi
God forbid. Haha! I’m just messing with you.
Sige, game. 
OR you could’ve invited this herbivore to help you finish off all your tofu
Let’s do another crazy cookfest then. I’m brimming with mad (and probably disgusting) ideas.
Yum!!!! panalo yung pako (paborito lang
)
Favorite mo rin pala ang pako? I’ll try to make a salad for the next climb or potluck para sayo.
Kaso every Sunday lang ako nakakabili nun, pag may mga nagtitinda near the church sa kalye namin. Hehe.
Buti ka nga every Sunday, ako tuwing umuuwi lang ng Quezon nakakatikim. Bihira ako makakita sa palengke
AHA! pramis yan ha….wahahaha.
Sige, mangha-hunting ako ng pako para sayo.
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