can you fondue tofu?

[Zoe Girl]

My family tradition is hot oil fondue with beef, chicken and shrimp on Christmas Eve. I am wanting to go back to being vegetarian in the new year for several reasons, I wonder if I can take some extra firm tofu, season it a little, press it out thoroughlyb for extra water, and then put it in the hot oil, Hmmmm

[SteveinMN]

I would try it. You can deep-fry many cheeses, and tofu is not that different in its general preparation. You might also consider dipping it in some kind of light batter that would fry fast and hold the tofu together. Or maybe try fondue with seitan or tempeh.

[sweetana3]

Why not a chicken broth fondue? Or even better the cheese fondue?

[bunnys]

I think extra firm would absolutely work. I buy extra firm and cut it in cubes and deep fry it in peanut oil all the time. It works beautifully. But you know what's going to make it good, some succulent sauce to pour all over it after you pull it out of the fondu pot.

[Dhiana]

You could compliment the tofu with squares of squash or pumpkin, too.

[lhamo]

Should work fine -- tofu is a common ingredient in Chinese hotpot, which is essentially a fondue like style of cooking (though it is more like an oily soup broth than just oil. If you have asian markets near you you can also try to get tofu "skins" (doufu pi in Chinese) -- it is a really tough but thin type of tofu, almost like a noodle/wrap kind of texture. Freezing tofu and then thawing it out also gives it a really interesting texture (that's called "dong doufu" in Chinese).

I'd also stock up on different types of mushrooms.

If you want some other adventurous asian type vegetables, consider lotus root (ou in Chinese), winter melon (donggua in Chinese), and (if you can find it) this WONDERFUL Chinese veg that is some kind of relative of broccoli I think that is called wosun -- it has a really long, thick green stalk that you can cut into strips that turn kind of transluscent when they cook -- retains its lovely crunchy texture and is one of my all-time favorite vegetables.

Good luck -- hope your family is willing to experiment with some of these new additions!

lhamo

[Amaranth]

Also you might get some tofu ideas from what Indian cooks do with paneer (cheese) as they can be used in similar ways.

Lhamo mentioned wosun. The stems do look like broccoli. I grow it and it is a type of lettuce. The lettuce leaves are thicker and juicier than average and you can pick some of them like leaf lettuce early in the season. Then later harvest the whole head to get the thick juicy stem as well as more leaves. Leaves are good cooked like spinach too.

[CathyA]

Yum, it all sounds good!
How about some squares of tempeh or sietan, like Steve suggested. That sounds good to me.
lhamo...thanks for that info!
I've never tried lotus root, but I grow lotus.

[gimmethesimplelife]

You could compliment the tofu with squares of squash or pumpkin, too.That sounds really, really good! Squash is cheap here in Phoenix as it gets trucked up from Mexico and I am not that far away, pumpkin is cheap in season, and I have noticed tofu interestingly enough has not increased in price (much). And healthy, too! Rob PS I just wanted to add - lhamo is dead on about lotus root - I had it once at a Chinese marketplace buffet and it was so good.....

[MaryHu]

I can't restrain myself any longer. Is no one going to jump on the rhyming nature of this question?

Can you
Fondue
Tofu?

This silly response immediately leapt to mind:

"Yes but only if you cut it with a Ginsu
while wearing a tutu
and emitting an impromptu
Woo Hoo!"

Sorry, I couldn't help myself! I love word play. All day long yesterday while sewing I kept coming up with more silliness in the same vein having to do with Fu Manchu, deja vu, Kathmandu, haiku, kung fu etc... ad naseum

May be we could have a contest!

[CathyA]

LOL.........your name even would fit! haha
When I first saw it, all I could think of was that old men's cologne commercial "Do you Canoe?"

[bunnys]

Also, I have been reading about frozen tofu lately.

Apparently, once the tofu has been frozen and defrosted it's much meatier and chewier and it just sucks up the sauce.

You know how bland tofu is, naturally. I have found that when I fry/cook tofu the 2nd day it is much better because whatever sauce I put on it has had ample time to be absorbed.

Maybe if you freeze/defrost the tofu first you'll be able to pull it right out of that fondu oil and dip it in sauce and it will be much more flavorful.

[MaryHu]

Can do
but don't feed it to your cockatoo :~)

(Why does all this remind me of the Princess Bride?)
Wallace Shawn "No more rhyming now. I mean it!"
Andre the Giant "Anybody want a peanut?"

I'll try to stop now. :|(