Tofu or not tofu?

Let’s talk vegan food – don’t turn away now, this is not an intervention to convince you (I could never be a vegan).

Let me explain: the other evening, Mr T and myself were channel hopping and came across a cookery show called ‘Thrifty Cooking in the Doctor’s Kitchen’ on BBC. I stopped as the doctor was rather handsome, Mr T because he is into healthy food.

Dr Rupy was cooking a pasta dish and replaced cream with silky tofu. The result looked rather tasty. So when doing my ‘big’ shop, I bought a pack of silky tofu. I have never used it (and used firm tofu only once when I had a vegan over for dinner – he hasn’t been invited back yet) so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

It isn’t the prettiest of things to look at. I thought I’d try a similar recipe as the doctor was cooking (didn’t bother to check the recipe – a mistake when it came to the tofu).

I fried leeks and mushrooms with some pinenuts - normally I would pour some white wine over it, reduce it and add cream (it’s tasty).

Now, the silken tofu is not liquid so I had to whisk it up. As I was just using a small amount, I didn’t use the electric whisk or a blender as the doctor did. I added a bit of the cooking liquid of the pasta and tried my best to get a smooth creamy consistency – I failed. The result was grainy and not very attractive.

The tofu had no flavour whatsoever so I added seasoning and mustard. The flavour of the overall dish was grand just not photo worthy.

After my adventure, I decided to do some research. If we compare silken tofu and cream, the calories alone would make you consider switching as silken tofu has 76cal compared to 400cal in cream.

The fat content of tofu is 4.8g (overall) while cream has 43g (overall) – these values are based on 100g.

Cream does better in terms of vitamins while calcium and iron is higher in tofu than cream. While researching I saw recipes for vegan smoothies which I haven’t tried yet.

Tofu is made from soy milk similar to cheese with the milk being coagulated, cut into curds and pressed (for firm tofu). For silken tofu, the curds are not cut.

Tofu is a much used ingredient in vegan diets but has been used in Asian countries for more than 2,000 years with the production method not changing much since.

Will I use silken tofu again? Yes, firstly I still have some left in the package and secondly, I would like to see if it can really replace my much loved cream.

Will I consider a vegan diet now? Not a chance as I love my cheese and butter way too much to even consider it (and honestly, I never tasted a vegan ‘cheese’ that was anything like the real thing).

If you consider a making a change, may I ask you to stay away from ready-made meals? These ‘meals’ are highly processed and contain a lot of hidden ingredients.

Follow I’m a little vegan on Facebook for great ideas on fresh vegan food. Louise works closely with SuperValu and her recipes are mouthwatering and don’t use any replacement meats etc.

Now, where is my cheese?