Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I wanna’ talk to you about breading. Because I used to move heaven and hell to bread my tofu. Pressing it, marinating it, dipping it in three different things, and then a lifetime and 45 dishes later I had breaded tofu. But left to my lazy devices I’ve found a down and dirty crazy easy way that only takes 15 minutes.

Listen up: Pour some tamari on a dinner plate. On another plate, a few handfuls of breadcrumbs, a scoop of nooch, some garlic powder, a big pinch of thyme, fresh black pepper. Preheat a cast iron pan over medium heat and have ready a thin metal spatula. Put a little oil in the pan, in two batches, dredge the extra firm tofu cubes in the tamari, just to soak them. Then roll 'em around in the breadcrumbs to coat. Now, without crowding the pan, simply cook in the cast iron, flipping every few minutes, and spraying in or drizzling a little extra oil if needed. It doesn’t have to be perfect, or look like a $30 entree, but I swear it will taste like one!

If you like, a little truffle oil to finish it as it cooks doesn’t hurt. But that’s just me being fancy. Throw breaded tofu over pasta, into a salad, sandwich, and most importantly, into your mouth! Oh and if you’re REALLY lazy, and even easier way to do this is just cut the tofu into 8 slabs and cook each side for a few minutes each.

Thanks for sharing this secret! I just made breaded tofu steaks last week there were meh, just ok. #NeededThis

I will try this...the lazy way of course haha.

And with panko maybe? yum.

Sweet. Thanks, Isa! I'm going to do this to my tofu tomorrow. I may even get fancy and pick up some truffle oil since I eye it up everytime I'm at the fancy supermarket.

NOM!

This is incredible. I've never tried making breaded tofu as I'm kinda the guy who'd rather throw tofu on a baking sheet, season, bake and call it a dish. Will be trying this shortly. On pizza, perhaps?

Awesome tips! Breaded tofu is supposed to be one of those easy things, but it always seems to be pain and creates a lot of dishes. I can see this making things better.

Wonder if that would pass for nuggets for the kids??? I finally figured out pressing tofu and now all my tofu dishes are turning out soooooooooooooo much better. I will put this on the menu for next week.

Awesome tips on the tofu, thanks for posting! What I want to know too is WHAT'S THE DISH PICTURED ABOVE? Not that sauteeing some spinach would be hard at all, but this looks particularly good, and if you can link to the recipe or post the basic ingredients, then I'll know what I'm having for dinner tomorrow!!! ;-)

Many thanks,
Mark

I couldnt resist making this tonight. But I had to bake it since I dont have a cast iron skillet. And I was afraid it would stick in my stainless steel pan. Im sure it wasnt as crunchy as it should have been but it was still delicious! I used gluten free panko for my breadcrumbs. And I paired it with vegan mac n cheese and some broccoli coated in the same mixture and then baked.

Beyond comfort food!

Yummm, that looks amazing. And simple. I like simple. Gotta try this out soon.

Ooh, I like the sound of dredging in tamari - I'm gonna give that a try. Thank you!

This may answer your question :) These aren't what Isa's posted about but they're bready crumbedy nuggety:
http://ruskindays.wordpress.com/2012/10 ... he-ate-it/

It's WW spaghetti with a white wine cashew creamy thingy.

Really stupid question here...you press the water out of the tofu before dredging, right??

Can I put it in a bag and shake it? Because I've always wanted to do that while saying "and we hey-ulped."

making this right now.

Did it! Blogged it! http://choirqueer.wordpress.com/2012/10 ... spaghetti/

This is so easy and delish! I made this last night with some yukon golds and kale in a bowl with some leftover vegan diner sage gravy and it was such a perfect meal! And I made this all when I was pretty tired, but it really was super easy.

is having a cast iron pan an essential thing for this cause i dont have one :-(

I used my non-stick pan and it was fine.

sweet. i have a couple non-stick pans that usually work good. wasnt sure about the breading

I made this again on Friday in my stainless steel plan and it was amazing! But I used cornmeal for the breading instead of breadcrumbs because I was out of gluten free breadcrumbs. Perfect crisp and tasty tofu cubes. Thanks again!

This is similar to how I do it:

Drain the tofu. Cut how you will (I do it lengthwise, rectangular cutlet style). Dip in milky stuff. Coat in a mix of flour, nooch, and black pepper. Pan fry to brown one side. Flip. Drizzle on tamari (just a titch) while the other side browns. Flip again. Eat.

This is excellent with the creamy red chard linguine! http://www.theppk.com/2010/12/creamy-red-chard-linguine/