One Ingredient Challenge: Giving Tofu Flavor

Part of an ongoing series of cooking from scratch. That is, we cook something from basic items that don't have multiple ingredients (e.g. store-bought spaghetti sauce includes all sorts of spices and maybe other stuff too; we'd start with tomatoes and individual spices and add them together to make our own sauce). See other challenges here.

We had a tofu cook-off at our house, though really it was a sauce-off. We have tofu as an alternate protein in meals when someone doesn't like the meat on offer. Let's just say some sausages may be too spicy for some members of our family.

My main complaint about tofu is that it is bland and tasteless. Recipes on line offer sauces and marinates to perk up the flavorless, white cubes. I named our first such recipe "tofu a bofu" after the Hebrew tohu wa-bohu, the phrase used in Genesis 1:3 to describe the initial state of the universe: without form and void. The family has been satisfied with the recipe but one Sunday we decided to try out new, home-crafted flavors for the soy protein chunks.

Four of us crafted a sauce and/or marinate while our youngest was the blind taste-test judge. We did not want him to favor any individual family member.

Tofu offering #1 had a combination of chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, and soy sauce for its marinade. It was offered with a creamy cheese sauce to balance out the spiciness.

Option 1

Tofu #2 used pureed strawberry and pineapple combined with soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and red wine vinegar for a sweet-and-sour flavor. After a short marinade, the extra sauce from the tofu was poured into a cup as a dipping sauce.

Option 2

Tofu #3's marinade combined chicken broth, ground ginger, garlic powder, rice vinegar, and cayenne pepper. This mixture was put on more traditional cubes.

Option 3

Tofu #4 marinated in soy sauce, vegetable oil, chili powder, ginger, and garlic before being cooked.

Option 4

The winner was #3, being the most flavorful and easiest to eat. It had stronger spices than #1 but that was balanced with plain white rice we served with the tofus.

Here is the recipe from the winner:

Marinade

3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cut half a block of tofu into cubes. Combine marinade ingredients. Marinate and cook in air fryer at 400 Fahrenheit for five minutes our until browned and crispy.

Bon appetit! Or, in Hebrew, tahana maharuha shlach!