Mostly used as a substitute to paneer, tofu is the most versatile food to cook with. Early Buddhist monks ate it as part of their strict vegetarian diet
-
Tofu is made of bean curds. Similar to the process of making cheese, tofu is made from cooking soybeans into a kind of ‘soy juice’ and then adding nigari (magnesium chloride). Nigari acts as a coagulant and produces curds that are pressed into the soft white blocks of tofu that you see in the supermarket.
-
Tofu has been around for over 2,000 years. Tofu was first developed in China around 200 BC. It is thought that very early Buddhist monks ate tofu as part of their strict vegetarian diets.
-
Tofu can be a dessert. Generally, you can get three types of tofu: silken, soft and firm. Where firm and extra-firm tofu is more meat-like in texture and is great for stir-fries, silken tofu is very creamy, almost like custard, and so it is used to make delicious desserts from chocolate pudding to pumpkin pie to cheesecake. It is also great for adding thickness and protein to smoothies.
-
Tofu is the chameleon of the food world. It is naturally very bland, and this is why it’s a great and versatile food to cook with — it takes on any flavour you cook it with! Get creative with it. Just make sure you press as much water out of blocks of tofu as you can. The more water you get out, the more room for flavour to get in!
-
Frozen tofu is a delicacy. It is called ‘thousand layer tofu’ because when it is frozen, the large ice crystals that develop within the tofu result in the formation of large cavities that appear to be layered. Have left-over tofuIJ You can freeze it. It will be more textured than fresh tofu but it will hold all the more flavour. Just let defrost before cooking and then cook it like regular tofu.
-
Tofu trumps other sources of protein in terms of fat and cholesterol content. A4 oz serving of ground pork contains 24 g fat, 9 g saturated fat, 105 mg of cholesterol. The same serving of lean ground beef — 17 g of fat, 7 g saturated fat, and 100 mg of cholesterol. Tofu contains only 6 g of fat, no saturated fat and zero cholesterol.
-
Tofu contains essential amino acids! This makes it unique among plant proteins. There are 20 common amino acids and eight to 10 of these are essential amino acids, meaning our bodies cannot make them, so we have to get them from our diet. Soybeans, and consequently tofu, contain all of the essential amino acids making it the only complete plant protein.
-
Adding a moderate amount of tofu to your diet can reduce the risk of developing certain cancers, lower cholesterol, likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease (CD), heal hot flashes and prevent atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
-
It is a common myth that tofu contains oestrogen which can implement feminine characters on men. Certain studies show that soy is dangerous for boys during puberty. But some other studies show that this is not true since tofu contains isoflavone phytochemicals that fall in the ‘phytoestrogen’ or plant estrogen category.
-
Silken and firm tofu are made from the same ingredients, but processed slightly differently, and are not interchangeable in a recipe. Silken tofu has slightly less nutritional value compared to regular tofu, but it’s still good. In general, silken tofu has a softer consistency than regular tofu and falls apart more easily. Regular tofu, also called Chinese-style tofu or bean curd, is the most common type; it’s best to cook with the firm or extra-firm varieties.
-
Until recently, soy wasn’t recommended for women with breast cancer or those at high risk of the disease, because of the estrogen-like effect of isoflavones. But a study found that soy food consumption significantly decreases the risk of death and cancer recurrence among women with breast cancer.