I ordered this cookbook from Amazon a few weeks ago, but haven’t had a chance to really go through it (other than to make the Tortilla Soup). I went through it today and marked a number of recipes. The cookbook authors also have a great website: Thug Kitchen

One of the nicer features is a series of tofu marinades. This evening, I’m trying the Smoky Maple Marinade:

Combine the following in the Magic Bullet, and marinate sliced tofu in it in for a few hours:

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup vegetable broth

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon liquid smoke 1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 tsp tomato paste

1 block of extra firm tofu

You then bake it for 25 minutes at 450, flipping once halfway through.

One thing I tried that I usually neglect is their instructions to squeeze the water out of the tofu with the following instructions:

Drain tofu: wrap it in some paper towels, put it in between two plates, and put some weight on it like a book or a can of beans.  This will press all the water out and allow it to absorb the flavor of the marinade.  It should take 30 mins to 1 hour.  

I can already see that this step allows the tofu to absorb more marinade since the tofu expanded quite a bit within a few moments of being in the marinade.

And J edged the Denman heart today….