Neither Mr NQN or I are strangers to tofu. As a hippie kid, his childhood was literally paved with the stuff whilst my my mum loved cooking it. So when we were offered the chance to learn how to make tofu lasagne, tofu chocolate cake and tofu bread, we jumped at the chance!
We would be making 7 courses today including drink (which we missed out on as we were running late). There would be tofu lasagne, okara and tofu nuggets, two types of thin tofu bread, tofu & spinach salad, yogurt soy cotta and okara chocolate cake. The items I was most interested in were the tofu lasagne and the thin tofu bread having tried neither. Yoshiko’s focus is on healthy soy based cooking with less sugar and less fat.
The fried seasoned tofu
The tofu lasagne features lightly floured salt and pepper dipped tofu slices that have been fried. This is paired with a homemade tomato sauce and bechamel sauce and topped with cheese. The key here is to make sure that the tofu has been drained properly before frying and this can be done by draining it under a heavy weight for 2-3 hours or putting the tofu is a microwave for one minute and then cooling it down and draining the water away.
Roasted tomatoes for the sauce
The roasted tomatoes, carrot and onions emerge from the oven and once the skins are removed they are then blended up to make a rich sauce. Once the sauce is done, it’s a matter of layering the tofu pieces, the roasted tomato sauce and the bechamel until the tray is full and then it’s given a final sprinkling of cheese on top.
Topping the lasagne with cheese
Mincing up the tofu for the tofu bread
Pressing down the tofu bread dough
Yoshiko then moves onto demonstrating the thin tofu bread-there are two types here, cheese and garlic. She starts off by showing off how to drain the tofu and and then the other participants mince up the tofu and knead the bread mix incorporating the tofu into the mix and then spread it out on a baking tray. Garlic butter and cheese is then sprinkled onto the dough.
The baked tofu bread
She then moves onto making the yogurt soy cotta as it needs time to set. For this she uses agar agar, skim soy milk and blueberries with just a minimum of sugar.
Salad mix
Basil dressing
The spinach and tofu salad is next and we make a fresh basil dressing. What is interesting about the tofu here is that it in minced up so that it resembles feta. To add flavour, we add sliced red onion and sun dried tomatoes to the crumbled tofu and then part of the dressing is poured over the tofu mix. Pine nuts are then toasted and these are added to the baby spinach salad and everything is mixed together at the last minute.
Chocolate tofu cake
As the chocolate cake has cooled down, we make a rich chocolate glaze for the cake consisting of chocolate and soy milk and we leave this aside to cool.
Last but not least is the tofu and okara nuggets.What is okara you may ask? It’s the remnants of tofu making i.e. the insoluble parts of the soy beans once they have been pureed and filtered. It also happens to be very nutritious and can be used in cooking. Okara is also free from health food stores or places that make their own tofu (just ask nicely 
) . I’m interested in trying it and it also appeared in the chocolate cake that we are making today. In the nuggets it is minced along with tofu, onion and potato and shaped into little footballs and deep fried and then paired with a sauce.
Fried okara balls
The Tofu salad
And the final verdict? Once we tasted everything, the salad was perhaps the most popular with the fragrant sweet basil dressing, roasted pine nuts and flavoursome sun dried tomatoes and the tofu really could have been feta cheese so it was a delicious vegan meal. The tofu lasagne was good once we added some more salt and pepper as was the tofu bread where you could barely taste the tofu. The nuggets were delicious with the honey mustard sweet chilli sauce. Onto the desserts! The soy cotta was less successful as it hadn’t really set but the chocolate cake was absolutely fantastic. Like a very rich and moist chocolate cake the okara gave it a moistness and richness.
Soy cotta with blueberries
Chocolate okara cake
So do you want to try your hand at some soy cooking yourself? Thanks to Yoshiko I am giving away a voucher for two people to attend a cooking class worth $190! The schedule is here on the Healthy Soy Cooking website and it’s up to you which one you’d like to attend. The classes are held in Bondi Junction. You will need to be able to make your own way there and back (sorry darlings, my limo and private jet is out of service 
).
All you have to do is tell me your favourite healthy dish. The most delicious sounding idea wins! Simply add your answer as a comment to the story. The competition ends at Midnight AEST 19th September, 2010. You can enter this once daily. This competition is open to people in Australian only as you will make your own way to the class .
***Congratulations to Maree H. of Cronulla!***
Best of luck!
Love,
Lorraine
xxx
NQN and Mr NQN attended the Tofusion cooking class as a guest of Healthy Soy Cooking
Healthy Soy Cooking
http://www.healthysoycooking.com/
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68 Comments | Add your own
I wish I could have gone. Ben loves tofu and I have no idea what to do with it.
it all looks divine Lorraine! I love tofu but don’t have enough confidence to cook with it much.
My favourite healthy dish is a vegetarian lasagne made with an abundance of vegies and buckwheat pasta sheets (no cheese sauce though – gotta keep it healthy!!!)
My favourite healthy dish is my roasted butternut pumpkin and baby spinach salad with a honey, lemon and mustard seed dressing. Everyone asks for me to bring this come BBQ season and I like to make extra for dinner and have with chicken for lunch the next day! Now I want to make some tonight!
MMmmm, these pics do look good, but Tofu and I have never really been a thing, sadly… we just don’t get each other
But, I do wish Tofu’s friends all the best luck with this great competition.
Oh, Lorraine, this is a class I would totally attend! I am a tofu fanatic -already possessing at least 3 cookbooks dedicated to tofu recipes.
Favourite would have to be one that my Lebanese mother made sure I knew off by heart before moving out of home: M’judrah.
This is a dish that has caremelised onions, brown lentils and rice with very simple seasoning of cinnamon, salt and pepper. Served with thick yoghurt on top and little sprinkling of shallots.so quick to make and so yummmmy!
I am a huge fan of tofu but never realised how diversly it can be used. What a fabulous cooking course. Looks like everyone is having so much fun too!:)
I like Potato Leek Soup, it’s good hot or cold.
Directions. 1. In a medium pot over medium heat, combine the potatoes and broth and allow to simmer for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. 2. In a separate skillet over medium heat, saute the leeks in the butter or margarine for 5 to 10 minutes, or until tender. Add the leeks and the cream to the potatoes and stir well.
Ohhhhhh, I want all of this so badly! Love tofu
And thanks for the tip about the microwave “draining” of the tofu. Much faster!
I think my favourite healthy dish is a chocolate mousse/pudding made with skim soy milk, cocoa powder, and muscavodo sugar, topped with a peanut butter sauce
What an interesting post! Thanks for a peek into the world of tofu. Cant say I’m looking to find alternatives to cheese or pasta etc so this is probably not for me but it’s been an eye opener to see all these uses.
It’s 51% condiment that supports the tofu. My favourite is honey mustard & sweet chilli sauce fused = Liquid Gold for Tofu Nuggets
My favourite healthy dish is tandoori chicken made with chicken tenderloins, low fat yoghurt and tandoori paste. Served with a high protein and healthy salad of quinoa, rocket, spanish onion, orange segments, with a lemon & olive oil dressing. I would love to go to this cooking course as have a 5 year old son who is highly allergic to dairy so am always looking for new things to do with soy!
We have the Joyoung Soy Milk Maker at home and with the left over okara my mum turns it into a delicious and healthy green onion pancake! The okara definitely gives it a really nice texture and we can’t live without the soy milk maker since we can also turn the soy milk into fresh tofu fa.
I like the look of the tufo bread
My favourite healthy dish is a dish my uncle used to make for me, called Mille Feuille aux Legumes. Consisting of grilled vegetables (capsicum, tomato, bell pepper, eggplant, sweet pepper, zucchini) and a top layer of fresh sea bass, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.
I’d love to win this – I hardly ever see prizes I can fully enjoy, being a vegetarian. I’d have to say that my current favourite is a pearl barley risotto topped with tofu, kale, cubed pumpkin and flaked coconut tossed in soy and sesame oil then roasted. It’s delicious – and partly my own innovation!
I had the pleasure of attending 3 of Yoshiko’s class 2 years ago and it was a pleasure! Anyone who can attend them should try!
great post, I have just started my cooking journey with tofu and everything featured looks super, good luck to all who enter…
sweetlife
I’m not the biggest tofu fan, but then you got me at cheese. Mmm…
I wish I could have been there too! I love and use a lot of soy products,and everything in your pictures look so tasty
I love firm tofu, I am not so keen on silken
My wife loves tofu and she would love everything that is on this! I must show this to her… incidentally she agrees with me about you and lipstick jungle too!!
Wow, tofu is really versatile!
Oh I love tofu, especially if it’s marinated in soy and garlic and stir-fried with vegies. I also enjoy it with salad or rice. And they are probably some of my healthiest meals. Good luck Sydneysiders!
Interesting, although it seems the big winners are the dishes where you can’t taste the tofu
I’m intrigued by the chocolate cake!
My fave healthy dish is my Mum’s minestrone soup (which she has taught me). It consists of every vegetable you can lay your hands on (and in vast quantities) at the fresh food markets, a few tins of diced tomatoes and beans, and a great deal of garlic and pepper. Result? The most comforting and healthy way to get about 8 serves of vegies in one go, and one of my favourite meals of all time. Every spoonful is exciting and fun! A good bit of grated cheese on top also totally makes it.
Moroccan Chickpea Bake – AMAZING! I first had this at the Moroccan Soup Bar in Melbourne and have managed to re create it at home. Yoghurt stirred through chickpeas, eggplant and garlic briefly baked and topped with ripped pieces of crispy (dry roasted) lebanese bread and slivered almonds. The ultimate (healthy!) comfort food.
Oh, what an amazing giveaway! As a vego, I am always on the lookout for new ways to use ingredients like tofu
My entry is “Larb Tofu” – a delicious and flavour-packed Thai dish with deep-fried tofu (ok, so maybe not SO healthy) chilli, lemon juice, lemongrass and an array of other ingredients. Combined with the crunchy texture and incredible flavour – larb tofu is one of my absolute favourite tofu dishes.
Gosh, I don’t know which recipe to put, I have so many!!!
I hope this vegetarian salad will help me win
Brown rice and Spinach Salad
ingredients:
brown basmati rice/brown rice
baby spinach
rocket
red onion, sliced
capsicum, sliced
almond flakes
balsamic dressing
Method:
cook the rice (I use the 90 second rice pouches, and cook it in a fry pan with a splash of water). set aside
lightly toast the almonds. set aside with the rice.
lightly sautee the onion and capsicum. add the rice and almonds back into the pan with the onions and capsicum and add in the rocket and spinach and toss until slightly wilted.
Serve with some balsamic dressing.
yum yum
My favourite health food would be congee. Its so healthy and oil-free and just feels so nice to digest. Nothing beats homemade congee on a sick day or after eating too much junk.
Wow cool! I’d love to take this class!
A healthy recipe I’ve made is using the leftover okara and mix it with eggs, scallions, bit of wholemeal flour and salt/pepper to taste…the pan fry it like those savour chinese pancakes…yummmm.
i’m definitely ignorant when it comes to tofu and its preparation. i’m constantly amazed by what people do to it to make it edible and, dare i say it, delicious!
what wonderful food – I am not in the drawer (my private jet and limousine is in service) but would love to do this class as I am rather fond of tofu and just love how versatile it is
Oohhhhhh I NEED one of these in Canberra… because, like skinny dipping, learning to cook tofu is also on my 30 before 30 list!!!
I think I would love to learn to cook the tofu the way it is all spongy in my favourite laksa!
Mine would be home made paella… it’s loaded with fresh seafood(very good for you), low fat (use less oil) and sodium (make your own stock), healthy and full of flavour without increasing your waistband. Equally nutritious and delicious is bouillabaisse…
These look amazing. Tofu is one of my favorite foods as it’s so versatile and takes on the flavors you’re using so well. Healthy too
My favourite healthy dish is something that we call RAINBOW SALAD because it includes all the colours of the rainbow. It’s a raw salad of purple cabbage; carrots; avocado; shallots; cherry tomatoes; sprouts; and red, green & yellow capsicums. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and dress with a sweet & sour mixture of rice wine, mirin, fresh chilli and a touch of sugar for a little sweetness.
If extra hungry, add some cubes of oven-baked salt & pepper tofu on top!
I guess I forgot just how versatile tofu is! This is truly amazing, Lorraine. I’m bookmarking this post because I’m compmletely inspired to experiment with tofu now!
Thanks Lorraine for another great Vego blog for the vego’s out there!
My failsafe healthy recipe is Eggplant & lentil bake; layer a crock pot with onion / garlic, add cooked lentils, layer sliced Eggplant then add 2tbs lemon juice, white wine vinegar & balsamic and plenty of freshly ground pepper and top with chopped Chard (or Silverbeet). Bake at 200C for 35-40 mins and serve with rice/quinoa, crumble fetta on top and garnish with parsley – Yum!!
PS – would LOVE to take my long-suffering meat eating husband to this course so we have some tasty new recipes to try.
Stirfry broccolini, fresh corn, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, eggs and pumpkin bites from Harris Farm – mix of pumpkin and nuts/seeds/lentils – and Kecap Manis sauce… YUMMO!!!!!
This cooking class sounds awesome!!
I became a vego for a while and my partner and I basically substituted any meat recipe we previously enjoyed with tofu. My favourite was the Jalfrezi Curry. This sweet and sour curry tastes great with tofu and vegetables like cauliflower, capsicum, eggplant, and chickpeas. A spoon of yoghurt on the side brings out the spices. It was really healthy too since we make all our curry pastes from scratch, the only bad thing was the oil (and the smell from roasting the spices inside your house!)
my favourite healthy dish is a couscous salad. it consists of more baby spinach, roasted caps, artichokes, olives, cucumber and ricotta than the couscous. so low carb
my favorite healthy dish is stir fryed rice noodles with as many vegies as I can with firm tofu cubes and chicken, I use light soy garlic ginger ketchup manis and oyster sauce to make a sauce then roll/fold it in a very thin omelete like a crepe I then sprinkle with fresh coriander and schechuan pepper and salt.You can drizzle with more oyster sauce if you like. A very healthy flavourful and filling dish!!
my favourite “healthy” dish at the moment would be a middle eastern style lentil soup. its full of lentils and spinach which are really good for you, its really simple to make with only a few ingredients, and it really hits the spot as a filling soup for winter. its on the Taste website if anyone is interested (i use green/brown lentils instead of red because the red ones just turn into a mush).
i forgot to add that the soup is really yum – whats the point of eating something that isn’t?
A simple, healthy and tasty dish (isn’t that what we all want?!) – oven roasted tomatoes (roasted with a little olive oil, pepper and salt) mashed up with olives, balsamic and basil. Serve with fettuccine, grated Parmesan and basil for garnish. YUM.
Awesome! I love tofu (I’m not vegetarian though) – my partner says he hates it, but he happily eats it when I make tofu burgers or skewers! So my entry for my healthy meal is tofu, zucchini, capsicum & mushroom skewers with cumin chickpea rice and lemon & coriander yoghurt
Oh oh oh I wish I could go to this! I have been having a tofu love affair lately, really enjoying it, but it has made me realise I am sorely lacking in knowledge of exciting things to do with it. Guess I’ll just have to keep reading and hunting for inspiration.
Hi Lorraine! Coming from a part of northern China where fried dough sticks and other gluten-atious goodies were the standard breakfast fare, my idea of ‘healthy dish’ may be a bit different from everyone elses!
As it happens, my favourite ‘healthy dish’ has the ever-versatile okara as one of the ingredients. The okara is blended with corn flour to form a smooth dough, which is folded around a generous filling of fennel and pork mince. The ‘dumplings’ are then steamed, and what results is a tasty variation of the ‘wotou’, or steamed cornbread.
Served fresh from the steamer, the cornbread is soft and crumbly, and the filling juicy and fragrant. Delicious
Love these recipes. Here’s one I discovered recently that popped on my Gmail.
Tofu Burger Recipe
(Be sure to seek out the firmest tofu made from organic soybeans you can find. Woolies have a very firm 500gm block of organic Tofu with very little moisture)
450 g extra-firm tofu, drained and patted dry, then sliced
2 large eggs
1/2 cup/55 g fine dried bread crumbs
1/2 cup/55 g cashew nuts
1/2 cup/55g sunflower seeds
1/2 cup/55g sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon shoyu or soy sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
(You can use any flavourings – I’ve used peanut butter to give a Satay flavour. I think tamarind would be good too)
Place all the ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture comes together and is free of most chunks, stopping to scrape down the sides of the food processor once or twice if needed. If it seems a bit thin to you, add more bread crumbs a small handful at a time until everything comes together.
Divide the mixture into eight equal portions and use your hands to press and form into round but flat-ish patties.
Pour the olive oil into your largest pan over medium-high heat, and arrange as many patties as you can without crowding. Cook turning once, until deeply browned on both sides. Roughly ten minutes. You want to make sure the middle of the patties cook through. If the pan is too hot you’ll burn the outsides before the middle cooks up, so be mindful of that.
Serve with your favourite burger fixings. Makes eight tofu burgers.
PS: You can also make them into balls and have a vege version of spaghetti and meatballs. They hang together really well.
I love Tofu and all the flavours you can add to it. My favourite healthy dish is a Korean favourite known as Biminbab. One of the best I have had is in the little Food court below Woolworths in Sydney CBD. The dish is mixture of lots of vegies, beef and a soft boiled egg on rice that is served in a stone bowl. You mix it all together and add as much hot sauce as you want. It is very healthy as nothing is fried and there are lots of vegies. Also as the bowl is hot the eggs cooks and the rice toasts lightly and is crispy on the edges-really a nice dish. Makes you feel all good and virtuous.
Marinated balsamic mushroom and rocket salad.
Marinate button mushrooms in olive oil, balsamic, garlic, chilli and parsley overnight. Toss with rocket or baby spinach. A beautiful and healthy side salad.
I’ll have a slice of that chocolate tofu cake – wow, never thought I would say that! y favourite healthy dish would have to be my orange and herb chicken with fruit salsa and a spinach, pomegranate and orange salad. I can’t wait till spring it here (I would say summer, but it does get a little to hot to be in the kitchen).
Nicoise salad (mixed salad consisting of various vegetables topped with tuna and anchovy).
The original version of this French salad always included raw red peppers, shallots, and artichoke hearts, never potatoes.
I serve it with a light balsamic vinaigrette
Whole Chinese Steamed Fish with Silken tofu – drizzled with a mixture of rice wine, soy, vinegar and sesame. Served with Jasmine rice (or basmati if you want low GI!), it is an incredibly delicious and healthy dish.
Pearl barley and quinoa bake – saute diced onions, garlic, sweet potato, celery, red capsicum and any other colourful veges. Add a bay leaf, tomato paste, stock, pearl barley and quinoa. Bring to the boil, transfer to an oven proof dish and place in the oven. Once cooked, stir through grated parmesan and serve.
Another easy low GI special! Healthy and simple as well.
I love a good hearty vegetarian lasagne thats got layers of mixed veges between sheets of pasta and topped with mash potato and sprinkle of LOW FAT cheese!
Oven baked tofu – tofu cubes marinated in soy, vinegar, garlic and honey and then oven baked. The honey and soy caramalise the tofu in the loveliest way! It also complements the nuttiness of the lentils.
I have also served this as a burger patty (rather than cubes) and managed to bring around a particularly cynical man to tofu. That is sign of success if I ever saw one!
Wow, I’m intrigued to try! Never heard of such class in Japan, where tofu is available in abundance. Must look harder for it!
The idea of tofu bread and chocolate cake is interesting. I had a vegan friend visiting a few months ago, and tried making a tofu quiche – the result wasn’t overly quiche-like, but it was very light and fluffy, and actually surprisingly good.
I think my favourite healthy dish would be a slow-roasted tomato, spinach and artichoke quiche. With a bit of Danish feta, if you want to relax the healthiness a little
Tofu green curry
Fry onions add pinch of fresh chilli (or chilli flakes) and green curry paste, then add any green veg you want (beans/peas etc) then other veg if you want, cube tofu, add some light coconut milk (check the labels & choose the one with the lowest saturated fat), simmer until heated through & serve on a bed of rice (brown for extra fibre)…yum!
Lurve Tofu – green tea tofu and black sesame tofu are particular favourites. Also love the sweet tofu at Yum Cha, and Yuba (tofu skin). Please, please pick me so I can go and learn how to cook it!
My bestfriend and flatmate is a vegetarian, and a terrible one at that! She boils white pasta and douses it in cheap pasta sauce! I can’t bear it any longer! If I went to this i would pull her along with me to save both her health and my sanity!
This course sounds amazing!
My favourite healthy recipe is spinach pasta with creamy broccoli and mushroom sauce. Instead of using cream, you blend the broccoli with silken tofu.
Recently I discovered agar agar! So much potential to make healthy delicious desserts with it. Especially now entering spring and craving for something nice and refreshing. Fruit chunks with agar agar is the best!
My go to super healthy recipe is a salad made with cooked farro (spelt) or in the case that you can’t get to Simon Johnson etc. pearl barley – cooked in either water or vegetable stock and drained to cool. Finely sliced/diced carrot, tomato, snow peas, spring onions, red capsicum dressed with extra virgin olive oil, splash of soy, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste – then mix in cooled grain (any of the above) and add lots and lots of chopped Italian parsley – quantity should be more like a salad than garnish – you can refrigerate for a day or so or eat it straight away. Perfect for a picnic or lunch at the beach!
Yummy colourful red quinoa salad – combine cooked red quinoa with freshly shelled peas (blanched), diced vine ripened tomato, small cucumber batons, sliced black olives, chives, parsley, thyme, majoram, lemon juice and a splash of tamari. Incredibly light and refreshing.
Tofu and I have been friends for many years. I used to mush a cube or 2 up into my son’s vege’s as a baby. Worked a treat!
Hmmm… my favourite healthy dish – that’s a tough one. I don’t always cook with “health” in mind – usually my love of all things delicious overrides (without thinking about the healthy aspects). I do love a light pasta dish with fresh seasonal tomatoes, lemon juice and zest, torn fragrant basil, sea salt and lashings of olive oil – topped with shaved parmarsen. Can’t be anything bad in that!!
Thanks for your post.
My favourite involves:
harvesting from the garden,
root vegetables, juicy carrots, huge white Daikon, salty beetroot, purple apple tasting turnips, ginger, a jewel pink fleshed sweet potato and artichokes.
Next leafy vegetables,
purple cabbage, beet root leaves and stems, Green-purple Ceylon spinach and swamp cabbage.
plus some stems of celery and
coriander.
With a vegetable chopper the produce is reduced to be ready for stir braising,
Slowly heat the wok, add coconut oil, add root vegetables, next stem and leafy til tender for eating.
Next blend a cup of milk and an egg add to hot wok until
cooked.
combine vegetables, coriander to taste and egg curd. Serve with rice and tamari or miso to taste.
bon appetite
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