VIBF Thai Chopped Salad with Tofu image p 80.jpg

Thai Chopped Salad With Spicy Tofu, from "Vibrant Food," by Kimberley Hasselbrink. "Reprinted with permission from Vibrant Food written and photographed by Kimberley Hasselbrink (Ten Speed Press, (c) 2014)

(Kimberly Hasselbrink)

Tofu is one of those ingredients that's almost impossible to love if you don't know what to do with it. It's virtually flavorless, which can lead to some seriously bland cooking if you just toss plain cubes of it into a stir-fry and expect them to absorb the flavors of the surrounding food.



And figuring out which type of tofu to buy can be confusing if you've never worked with it before. There are blocks in varying degrees of firmness that are packed in water in the refrigerator case of the grocery store. Nearby, you're likely to find shrink-wrapped packages of pre-seasoned baked tofu, which can save time for busy cooks but tend to be expensive. And in the natural foods section, there are blocks of the smooth "silken" variety in shelf-stable Tetra Paks.



In general, the water-packed tofu is great for general cooking, while the baked varieties are handy for making things like Asian salad rolls. And the softer silken tofu is great for adding creamy richness to blended soups and sauces without all the calories that are in real cream.



Recipe included with this story: Thai Chopped Salad With Spicy Tofu.



I never found much use for tofu before going vegan, but it's such a great plant-based source of protein that it's hard to overlook. It's made out of the coagulated soy milk, and a half cup of it can have about 10 grams of protein. And it's a good source of calcium, too.



A few years back, a friend who does a lot of Asian cooking assured me that the reason I wasn't too keen on tofu was because I never had had it prepared correctly, and that the secret to giving it lots of robust flavor is to marinate it for several hours before cooking.



She was right. I started pouring various barbecue marinades on tofu slices before heading to the grill, where sugars caramelize and a chewy crust forms. And I'd place bite-sized cubes in pools of leftover vinaigrettes, letting them soak up the mixture of oil and vinegar before baking them in the oven.



Recently, I found a tofu marinade that trumps any I've tried so far in the new cookbook "Vibrant Food" by Kimberley Hasselbrink. Her spicy tofu soaks overnight in a mixture of rice vinegar, tamari, olive oil, spicy red chile paste and a touch of sugar. The tofu is then placed under the broiler, where it quickly develops a rich, dark color with bits of surface char.

Hasselbrink uses these tofu cubes on top of her Thai Chopped Salad, which is a great catch-all for summer produce like okra, sugar snap peas, tomatoes and cucumbers. It's then dressed with lime juice seasoned with tamari, brown sugar and red pepper flakes. When the salad, dressing and broiled tofu cubes come together, you get a great contrast of heat levels and textures.



It's a recipe worth knowing just for that tofu marinade. You'll never think of tofu as boring or bland after trying these cubes.



-- Grant Butler