Silken Tofu. It's an absolute staple for vegan dishes, cooked and raw. Every grocery store should carry it and it shouldn't be hard to find. Unfortunately, sometimes it is. It was for me today. For anyone who hasn't experienced vegan dips, sauces, shakes and smoothies, Mori-Nu Silken Tofu, the soft one, is a great base. The first time I'm sure I had it was at a restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee, of all places...back in the mid 80's. The restaurant was called "Everybody's Vegetarian Restaurant" and the place was packed both times I went when I was there. It was called a vegetarian restaurant, but it was actually vegan, but I didn't know the word vegan then.
Everybody's featured main dishes with either tempeh or tofu: barbecued, in Italian and Chinese dishes, Indian specialties aslo if my memory serves me well. There were fried tempeh sticks with cucumber/dill dip. There was a wonderful salad bar with all kinds of dressing, even creamy ones and none of them contained animal products. The menu included several flavors of shakes and smoothies, and I had no clue what the base of these creamy treats was. Then, years later, I learned that it was a very soft, very silky tofu, hence its name. The difference in taste? They were more like some cold, delicious cake batter...with fruit in some cases.
Silken is the brand I plan to use in my vegan hollandaise sauce this weekend, and the stores that I thought would carry it, didn't: Trader Joe's and The Market (Von's gourmet mini-store). I will stop by a couple of other stores tomorrow to see what I can find. It could easily be located in the Asian section of a more upscale grocery store, but I'll have to check it out and let you know!
If you remember anything from this missive tonight, or tomorrow, keep one thing in mind if you are not vegan, or if you "don't like tofu". Tofu is like flour or a raw egg; it is the base of the dish and it has to be prepared right or it won't taste right and the texture will be slimey. To say you don't like tofu is like saying you don't like flour. It has to be mixed, marinated, seasoned, or blended with other ingredients to give it the flavor you want. By itself, tofu tastes really, really weird, bland and slippery.
Blended in chocolate pudding it is heavenly. Mixed into unbaked cookies, it's divine and I'm looking forward to seeing how wonderful it is as a hollandaise sauce. I will let you know...as soon as I find my Silken Tofu.
Julie and Julia, I wonder if your minds are/would have been open enough to try a wonderful chocolate silk pie made with tofu instead of milk and eggs. ?? Better for the cholesterol as well!
NOTE: Don't use Silken Tofu in main tofu dishes; use any other brand, particularly organic if possible, and for a meat substitute, use the extra firm. If you want it kind of spongy, freeze it and when it thaws, squeeze out the excess moisture and tear it into chuncks. This makes great "Sloppy Steves"! (I'll give that recipe later.)
Have a great Friday night!
Peace and Cruelty Free Living!
Bev
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