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Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby scullion » Mon Aug 31, 2020 7:10 pm

interesting - the three or four times I've made the fritters they have been fine, no explosions at all. would making them too wet cause that?
with falafel (i've never made them with tinned chickpeas, just soaked dried ones) i try frying a small one and if it breaks up (sometimes they do, sometimes they don't - don't know why when i'm using the same recipe), i put a handful of gram flour in the mix before frying the rest.

these are really useful if you make falafel/meatballs etc, often, as you don't waste some of the mix washing it from your hands between cooking batches.

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Aug 31, 2020 7:53 pm

I've had 2 different falafel makers and didn't get on with either
I know use a a small ice cream scoop to get them evenly sized

D

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Nov 17, 2020 7:34 pm

Returning to the Shan/Burmese Tofu issue

I finally made the fritters today
MiMi has a video online, it's rather slow, but you can drop out after about 33 minutes but I did learn a few things

First, I hadn't appreciated that Shan tofu (dohu) and Burmese tofu are slightly different

Shan tofu is made with yellow split pea flour, and is a bit more jelly like than the Burmese tofu made with ordinary gram flour

Second, MiMi says her mother told her to let the batter steep for 2 hours, but she no longer bothers to leave it that long as it seems to make no difference

Third, they lose their crispness very quickly, so best to give them a light frying until just turning crisp and golden, in small batches, then give then a second frying in larger batches just before eating - like chips

Here's the video - all 84 minutes of it :o (that's down to the way the Guild of Food Writers set it up)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENWMi-0e45Y

Didn't take a picture of my fritters, I cut some like Jenga chips, which I thought had the correct ration of inside to outside

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby scullion » Tue Nov 17, 2020 7:56 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:Second, MiMi says her mother told her to let the batter steep for 2 hours, but she no longer bothers to leave it that long as it seems to make no difference


that's what i've found, too. after making them to the original recipe the first time i didn't bother with the soak on subsequent occasions. maybe her mother's chickpea flour was quite coarse and needed a soak.

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby Hickybank » Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:21 am

Only ever tried Tofu once & thought it was the most disgusting thing I had ever eaten, apart from perhaps Ladies fingers cannot remember what it was in, Indian perhaps.
Maybe I should give it a second chance (or not)

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Nov 18, 2020 1:11 am

Unlikely to have been Indian Hicky, as it's really a Chines or Japanese food that has spread out to neighbouring countries

The regular white stuff is made from soy beans and has very little flavour

The Burmese stuff has more intrinsic flavour, being made from chickpeas

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby Hickybank » Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:51 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:Unlikely to have been Indian Hicky, as it's really a Chines or Japanese food that has spread out to neighbouring countries

The regular white stuff is made from soy beans and has very little flavour

The Burmese stuff has more intrinsic flavour, being made from chickpeas

You have probably hit the nail on the head as Chinese is my least favourite cuisine,I think the last one I had was on holiday in Spain some 5-6 years ago & that was beacuse everyone else wanted one, I would have just picked at if so may well have been Tofu served then
c.

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby Earthmaiden » Wed Nov 18, 2020 1:33 pm

Hmmm. At school in the 60s we sometimes had curry. I have a life-long dislike of some of the major spices found in Indian cuisine so hated it but don't think it was too bad for those who liked it. Anyway, it contained meat but also uniform rectangles of something soft and white which I'd never identified until I learned about tofu. It seems very innovative for 1960s school cuisine but I cannot think what else it could have been. Now you've pointed out that tofu doesn't belong in this sort of curry I'm wondering if it was, or what it was!

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby scullion » Wed Nov 18, 2020 1:38 pm

sure it wasn't paneer? it can be a little overwhelmed in some currys and can possibly seem like tofu.

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Nov 18, 2020 1:45 pm

Yes, I would guess paneer is more likely in a fairly traditional Indian recipe, a cheese made by souring milk

You do find paneer replaced with tofu in some recipes from UK and US sources to make the curry vegan or dairy free for other reasons but that would be unlikely in 60s school dinner or a non-vegan curry house

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby Earthmaiden » Wed Nov 18, 2020 1:58 pm

That's a thought! It didn't taste of much. Guess I'll never know for sure but that may be more likely.

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby KeenCook2 » Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:41 pm

I had never had paneer until a few weeks ago when we bought a readymade spinach and paneer side from COOK. The cubes of paneer were underwhelming when I tasted them on their own.

Is it not also a bit surprising to have something like paneer at school dinners then? On the other hand, I suppose if they were serving curry at all, they were being quite innovative :lol: Certainly nothing like that at my school :lol:

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:18 pm

Maybe they made paneer to use up spare school milk?

We had curry at my high school, 1965 - 72
Was a bit runny and came with boiled rice, which was actually the bit a lot of people didn’t like

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby Hickybank » Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:59 pm

I had my last school meal around 1952,
My lasting memory is a rap on your knuckles if you did not clear your plate, & Tapioca that we used to call Frogspawn :vomit :vomit :vomit

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby scullion » Wed Nov 18, 2020 5:58 pm

i still make some of the things we had for school dinners - and they made the best roast potatoes I've ever had.

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby karadekoolaid » Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:15 pm

CURRY for school dinners??
All through the 60s - never once!
We got frogspawn, though, as well as jam roly-poly which was great for knocking nails into 4X4s.

Tofu is pretty tasteless on its own. It figures in my list of tasteless foodstuffs, which also includes paneer, ricotta and polenta. It´s not what the ingredient tastes like, however, in my opinion - it´s what you add to it. Tofu, paneer, ricotta is protein (Am I right, Sue?)

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Re: Fried tofu (tofu puffs)

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu Nov 19, 2020 12:18 am

All are protein, and I usually quite like ricotta, it's a delicate flavour, but it's not tasteless IMO, a good one

I am puzzled by the fact that one can buy "whole milk ricotta" - it should be made from whey

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