Five Weeks of Flexitarian Eating Wk 2: Let’s Talk Tofu (and Tempeh and Seitan) Updated for 2019!

Welcome to Week 2 of 5 Weeks of Flexitarian Eating. How was your first week? Were you able to have at least one meatless meal? (If you had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it counts! Yay!) This week we’re talking about tofu – a gorgeous, sometimes controversial ingredient. If you choose to consume it, you’ll add an versatile item to help you plan your meals. The same is true for tofu’s cousins, tempeh and seitan. I’ll discuss them later in the post.

It’s worth the time to learn how to prepare tofu!

Dawn Jackson Blatner, author of The Flexitarian Diet refers to tofu as “Veggie White Meat.” I prefer to think of tofu as tofu. Personally, I’m usually not interested in tofurky, chik’n or soyrizo or any sort of artificial meat for a couple reasons:

1. In order to make those items taste like meat they have to have all kinds of flavorings and stabilizers added to them. Seriously, read the labels on those products and check out the laundry list of ingredients;
2. Unless labelled otherwise, those products are made with GM soybeans;
3. Finally, there’s some question about the effects the phytoestrogens found in soy (and other legumes and just about all of my favorite vegetables) with conclusions drawn based on which food “camp” one belongs to. All seem to agree that a woman at risk for “female problems” should play it safe especially with regard to processed varieties of soy.

I’m not telling you this to discourage you from eating ORGANIC tofu in moderation, but rather to point out that many soy products you’re likely to come across are highly processed. Many processed soy foods have homemade alternatives (like spinach and tofu burgers…you can make a batch and freeze them. There’s a photo at the bottom of the page.) It’s up to you to balance convenience with your desire to limit industrial foods. When all is said and done, I would rather celebrate (organic) tofu as an ingredient in its own right, enjoy it a couple times a month, and avoid processed soy in all its forms as much as possible.

Tofu is incredibly versatile. You can scramble it with vegetables, create creamy, dairy free desserts, and season it just about any way you’d like. That’s because it doesn’t have much flavor of its own. I haven’t tried making a dessert or sweet treat from tofu but it’s on my list to try. I like the idea of having vegan baking alternatives in my skill set.

Honey Garlic Tofu Touch the Image to See the Recipe

When I first started cooking with tofu, I usually baked or stir fried it. It’s great for a quick meal like the honey and garlic tofu shown above. I really like to grill it, too. If you grill outside, cook the tofu on indirect heat. In the kitchen I use a grill pan, as demonstrated in this stir fry featuring brussels sprouts and tofu (it sounds weird, but it totally works!)

Brussels Sprouts and Tofu

A lot of recipes recommend pressing the water out of the tofu before slicing it. This is easy to do with some towels, a plate and a weight. Others suggest freezing and thawing the tofu before slicing to give it a meaty texture.

After pressing, slice the tofu into steaks (slabs), cubes or triangles. Marinate the tofu at this point if desired. To fry the tofu a little dredge in cornstarch or tapioca flour will help give a nice crust. You can also bake or roast the tofu (dredging optional). Just place on a lightly oiled baking sheet and pop it into a 350F/180C oven until golden and a little bit puffy. It will take anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes depending on the shape and how much moisture remains in the tofu.

Spinach and Tofu Burgers

No matter how it’s prepared, fried or baked tofu can be stored in the fridge for use in salads, sandwiches, quick stir fries what have you.

What about Tempeh and Seitan?

Vegan Tempeh Sandwich

Tempeh is a fermented bean product that can be made from any type of beans although soy and chickpeas seem to be the most popular. While it doesn’t have the versatility of tofu, tempeh can be prepared in a variety of ways and the whole beans used to make tempeh give it a nice chew that meat lovers find very satisfying. That being said, tempeh can have a bit of a funky taste (especially when eaten raw) so it’s common to either marinate it or steam it before continuing with the recipe. The sandwich above kind of combined the marinating and steaming into one step. This post from From My Bowl describes a similar method to prepare tempeh to have on hand to use in other recipes.

Seitan is actually usually made from wheat gluten but I’m including it here because, like tofu and tempeh, it takes on many flavors and is a common meat replacement. Seitan is widely used in Asian cuisine but other than the Vietnamese restaurant in my home city, I’ve never seen it on a menu. (After talking about it with my husband he pointed out the “weird looking meat” in my bowl of pho was probably gluten…oh, duh!)

Check the labels on many vegan “meats” you’ll see some combination of soy protein and vital wheat gluten. There are gluten free seitan products as well. It’s a matter of checking the labels.

Outside of commercial products I don’t have any experience with this thousand year old foodstuff. You can make seitan at home, which could make for some fun experiments. If you’re curious to give it a try, Choose Veg has a collection of recipes they claim will make you forget about meat. (There’s a seitan skewer that looks really good, maybe next time I update this post I’ll have made it!)

Your Week Two Assignment

Since I first wrote this article in 2014 the market for vegan “meats” has really taken off. There are several brands that have a good texture and flavor PLUS they use organic ingredients like non GM Soy and organic wheat.

Go to the grocery store and check out the variety of plant based “meats” available in your market. If any appeal to you, buy it and give it a try! I suggest something with breading that can be dipped into a sauce…like some sort of nugget.

Not into it? Then how about giving tofu or tempeh a try? Instead of chicken pad thai from your favorite take out place, order something with bean curd instead.

Still a no? Make any meatless meal that appeals to you.

Be sure to come back and tell me about your meal in the comments.

If you follow me on Lydia’s Flexitarian Kitchen’s Facebook Page you can even share a photo!

See these links for the rest of the series:
Week 1: Beans
Week 2: Let’s Talk Tofu
Week 3: Grains and Greens
Week 4: Dairy or No?
Week 5: Going Full Flexitarian

I’ve updated the text and photos on January 8, 2019. I still haven’t made a tofu based dessert and I haven’t make seitan at home! I’ll let you know when that changes…

Photos for the pin and the promos came from Pixabay