Planet Veggie

As the self-proclaimed Queen of Tofu, when I heard about a new brand of tofu called Tofoo, I was obviously keen to give it a go. Tofoo is different than the usual block of Cauldron found in any supermarket, as it’s ready-pressed (yes, I said ready pressed – no more reams of kitchen roll!*) and ready-flavoured in smoked, Indian spiced and Oriental spiced varieties (the latter two coming in cubes). There’s also a naked one, ready for you to do whatever it is you like doing with tofu (if it’s something other than eating it, you probably need help. Just because it’s called ‘naked’ doesn’t mean you should get pervy with it).

Before I get onto telling you what I made with it and how, here’s some info about Tofoo’s tofu. It’s:

• made with 100% organic soy beans
• made to a secret traditional Japanese recipe
• a great source of protein but contains zero cholesterol
• non-GM and gluten-, dairy-, yeast- and wheat-free
• low in calories, saturated fats and carbohydrates
• made by hand in small batches
• certified by the Soil Association
• made in Yorkshire
• made with nigari (a natural ingredient) – other brands of tofu are made with calcium sulphate (aka plaster of Paris. Yum.)

Tofoo sent me their whole range to try and, as it was lunchtime, I decided to make myself a baked tofu sandwich. As it was going to go on my blog, I thought I’d better do something more interesting than bung a bit of tofu in between two slices of white sliced, and so I decided to make a vegan bánh mi. I’m aware this sounds like a very posh sandwich indeed, but bánh mi is simply the Vietnamese term for bread. Us Westerners though usually refer to it as meaning a meat-filled sandwich accompanied by pickled vegetables and chilli sauce or mayonnaise. Obviously, what with this being a vegetarian blog, my bánh mi wasn’t going to contain meat, but tofu. Yum yum yum.

Pickled veg in a bánh mi usually contains daikon but Tesco didn’t have any, so I used ‘normal’ radish instead (you know, those little round red ones you get in a bag). I’ve never made pickled vegetables before but now that I have, I’m an addict. It’s dead simple to do and makes a fab crunchy, tangy addition to any sandwich and, as an added bonus, it looks pretty in a jar. Just remember to make the pickled vegetables in advance (a few hours is fine) and store in the fridge to allow the vegetables to pickle.

As I’d decided to make a miso-based marinade for the tofu, I used Tofoo’s naked variety. They weren’t lying when they said it was ready-pressed. If you’re used to those soggy spongy blocks of tofu, you’re going to love Tofoo – it’s ready to use, straight from the pack and each pack comes with a recipe card.

One pack of naked Tofoo will make enough for about three sandwiches and you can leave the leftover marinaded and baked Tofoo in the fridge (although I should warn you, if you do this, you won’t have any left for sandwiches, as you’ll keep eating it each time you go into the kitchen). Tofoo impressed me with the way it took on the marinade and its texture once baked, and I reckon this will be my go-to tofu from now on.

Tofoo is available (at the time of writing) at Tesco and Ocado. Thanks for Tofoo for providing the tofu for this recipe. For more information on Tofoo and to check out their recipes, visit the Tofoo website.

*you shouldn’t be using reams of kitchen roll –  you should be using this amazing tofu press from Tofuture.