First time I tried grilling ... tofu!!!

Theophan

I don't know if anyone will be the least bit interested in this... but this evening I tried grilling tofu for the first time.  I won't say it was the greatest thing in the whole world, but it was good, and definitely seems worth trying again.  I'm not crazy about tofu, really, but there are times when I eat meat and times when I'm vegan (long story), and this is one of the vegan times.  I had a recipe for "Lemon Achiote Grilled Tofu, which had a LOT of achiote (annatto) -- 2 Tb, a little cayenne, a little raw sugar, some garlic, salt, and lemon.  I grilled it at 300 for 10 minutes on the first side, decided it hadn't been hot enough, cooked the second side for 10-12 minutes at 350-400, and it charred up better.  In case anyone's interested, here are pictures

First, the tofu in my Tofu Xpress tofu press, showing how much liquid got pressed out of it (it's the layer sitting on top of the tofu and the plastic press plate):



Now the achiote and the marinade:



I cut the block of tofu in half vertically and again horizontally to make 4 small pieces:



Marinated it for a few hours:



Grilled it:



Sliced it, made some sort of tacos.  I put some salsa on one, Stubbs' green chile sauce on the others, which I'd never had before but was delicious:


If anyone has some great tofu recipes, I'd be very interested!  This was pretty good, but I'm hoping to do better.

Jstroke

I have to admit you get big points on a forum that is primarily aimed at meat. Personally it looks good to me. I would slam that. I wonder if you can inject it. I would think since liquid came out then it could go back in. I have to admit i might try something like that this weekend. 

ryantt

Looks great, may have to try this. 

Legume

Looks great, I would absolutely eat that.  Where did you get the press?

Theophan

Many thanks for the kind comments.  I want to warn you, though: it was still tofu, and nowhere near as good as tacos with meat or fish.  if you like tofu, it wasn't bad.

And @Legume, I forget, but I think I ordered the Tofu Xpress from Amazon, though they also have their own site.  Most people who eat tofu tend to press it.  It makes it more dense, less sort of flabby, and probably lets marinades soak in better.  I started with Extra Firm tofu for this cook, and you see how much water came out even with that.

Legume

Thanks.  I buy it already pressed sometimes from Trader Joes.  They have it marinated in a few different flavors and we use it in stir frys.  I would love to try making my own and being able to try different flavors.

Carolina Q

I might try it. I already have some achiote for my chili recipe.

Never had tofu before, but it can't be any worse than oysters and I lived through that!