In which I learn to cook tofu

So I had fun in the kitchen again...Yay! Summer is nearly over and I'm about to embark on an intense 5 semester-long graduate/internship program along with working part time in a 1st grade classroom. I worry that this program will completely consume my life so I'm scrambling around trying to cook as many of the "Big Deal things that I've dog-eared in my cookbooks" as I can while I still have a bit of free time to work with. When I say Big Deal, I'm referring to recipes that might take a bit longer in time to make but I know that I want to try my hand at. Since I have the time to tackle some of these now, I figured I should have a go because I may not have as much free time in the coming months.

This week I decided I wanted to find a recipe for cooking tofu. Having been a vegan for just about 3 years and a vegetarian for almost 8 before that, it is almost unbelievable that I have never cooked my own tofu! Don't get me wrong, I do like tofu, but I just never took it upon myself to actually cook it for myself. I would order tofu from restaurants or settle for putting them in baking recipes and ricotta recipes. I figured it was high time to attempt a recipe where the tofu truly shines. I found just that when I consulted Lauren Ulm's Sweet & Sour Almond Broccoli Tofu with Wild Rice in her Vegan Yum Yum cookbook.

Broccoli Almond Sweet-&-Sour Tofu with Wild Rice

Boy! She wasn't kidding about the Yum Yum part. This dish was amazing! Since I had never fried my own tofu, I was careful and went about the whole cooking process very slowly. I was in the kitchen for well over an hour and a half before I could sit down and enjoy this. No regrets though because it was well worth the wait.

For the rice I used Lundberg's Wild Rice Blend. This stuff is great because it has such a nutty and rich flavor. Not to mention that it makes the house smell wonderful as it cooks! Seriously, if you haven't tried this stuff, leave your house right now and go buy some. You won't regret it.

I must say that cooking tofu was really easy and I can't believe I haven't done more of it over the years. I simply can't wait to try other tofu recipes of my own!