Chef Paul: I am not a vegetarian…
May 06 2011
No one in our household is a vegetarian but we do have meatless meals on a regular basis. We have vegetables with every meal but we also almost always have meat too. Like many non-vegetarians we were initially concerned that we
would not get enough protein, mostly because we were “afraid” of tofu. More accurately, none of us liked eating mushy flavourless tofu.
But there are many tricks to making your tofu flavourful and it doesn’t have to be mushy. What I’ve been doing is marinating the tofu I will use in a stir fry before I leave for work in the morning. It takes about 5 minutes to cut it up and make the marinade and then I place it in the refrigerator until I need it. I always buy firm or extra firm tofu for my stir fries. Then when I get home, I strain the tofu reserving the marinade. I heat up a pan and cook the tofu separately until browned and crisp. Meanwhile, I’ll cook the other stir fry ingredients in a wok adding the marinade at the end. I’ll serve the stir fry on either a bed of rice or with noodles and topped with the crispy fried tofu. This is just one of many ways to enjoy tofu.
But tofu isn’t the only source of vegetarian protein…not by any means. Legumes (beans and lentils), nuts and whole grains such as quinoa, one of the best foods you can eat by the way.
So give it a try even if you’re not a vegetarian. Not only meatless Monday’s but maybe even a couple times a week. You’ll save money, feel better and who knows, you might actually end up liking tofu.
