Sunday, September 20, 2009

Tofuballs (tofu meat-less-balls)




1 package firm or extra firm tofu (pressed)
italian spices, lots of parsely
2 slices of bread
1 egg
olive oil

Pressing tofu


How to press tofu: wrap it up in a lint-free cloth (I use a cloth napkin, but a few layers of paper towels also can work), put it on the counter. To press it, you need to add weight; so put a cutting board on top of the tofu, and add something heavy to the top of the cutting board (e.g. a gallon of water or several big cans). Leave the tofu for an hour or more, then put new, dry wrappings over it, and press it again for another hour+. You can't press it too long; the longer you press it, the more "meaty" it gets. WARNING: The tofu wont press evenly, so eventually the cutting board will lean to one side and your weight will fall to the floor. You need to put some sort of "stoppers" (maybe small pieces of tupperware or bowls; see picture) under the ends of the cutting board that will prevent it from tipping over as the tofu presses. It should be just short enough so the cutting board isn't resting on it, but tall enough so that as the tofu presses, the cutting board will come to rest on your stoppers. We made a huge mess and busted a glass yesterday because we didn't do this.

Making the tofuballs: In a mixing bowl, crumble the pressed tofu with your hands until it's all ground up. Crumble the bread into the bowl. Add the spices and egg and mix everything up. Heat up a half inch of olive oil in a frying pan. Form the tofu mixture into balls and fry 'em up. I recommend frying rather than baking because frying adds good flavor that you'd miss out on with baking.