Grilled Tofu

I was asked about grilling tofu today, and I didn't have an answer. The person who asked was looking for recipes; she has it overseas and thought it was delicious, but had never done it herself. Does anyone have any good recipes to share or a good cookbook to recommend? Thanks!

We have grilled tofu dengaku (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/ ... -em-353652). I have also successfully substituted tofu for salmon in this tea-smoked salmon recipe (http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/tea- ... elish.aspx). I also liked this tofu kebab recipe: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/sesa ... ebabs.aspx.

What kind of grilled tofu did your friend have overseas? I assume this was in Asia-- where? We love tofu and grilling, so I'm looking forward to other grilled tofu recipes.

Cheers, Jen

Edited because I forgot that I had made tofu kebabs too!

Can you be more specific about "overseas"? First thing that comes to mind is of course the origin of tofu, China. There they have many types, lots of them dried, cooked or otherwise made firm to survive the grill. You can even find some already smoked, comes very firm and reminds me a lot of smoked cheese. I also recommend re-hydrated tofu skins which come in a dry pack and you'll have to soak before cooking. I think the largest variety of these are found at Broadway Market, though I'm sure you can find them elsewhere as well. As for preparation, do as the Chinese do, skewer them, grill them up, throw them in a wok with spices and make a stir fry out of it.

Here is some inspiration from my 2009 trip to china. In the bottom picture you can see the firm tofu I was talking about and how they skewered it up.





Broadway Supermarket
4879 N Broadway St
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 334-3838

I find a key procedure is to extract as much water as possible before grilling. Start with extra firm tofu, and slice it long-way into little planks. If you have the time / are working ahead of time, place it in the freezer for about an hour, then thaw, then press the planks between your hands to extrude water. If you don't have that kind of time, put the planks on a board with a trough, then cover with another board, and weight with dishes or canned goods, and some water will be pressed out. After removing water, the tofu can be grilled, getting a nice char, but you can also marinate it to replace some of the water with flavor (soy, apple cider, wine, etc) and then grill.

This recipe works well, in terms of marinade. It seems very close to what they do in their prepared food bar. You can toss it back in with the extra marinade and some finely chopped red and green peppers and sliced green onions.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/ ... iyaki-tofu