Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy and vegan
I would like to invite you to revisit the basics of meat substitutes. One of the foremothers of meat substitutes is simple white tofu. Known for centuries in the oriental kitchen. Soy milk is being curdled using nigari, a calcium salt, and the solid result of this curdling is pressed into blocks. It’s a little bit like making cheese, but plant-based.
The easiest digestible tofu is the fermented version. It has a pleasant, slightly acid taste. Non-fermented, white tofu is tasteless. That is why a marinade is very welcome, before frying or roasting the tofu.
Here’s an easy example of an oriental style marinade for tofu.
For a block of organic white tofu of 400 grs you need:
- 3 tablespoons of tamari or shoyu, that’s the dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or white rice vinegar (mirin)
- Half a tablespoon of rice or agave syrup
- A nice piece of fresh ginger, cut finely
- Oriental spices of your choice
An example of a fiery spice mixture:
- 2 teaspoons of an Indonesian spice mixture
- A quarter teaspoon of ground chili powder
- A quarter teaspoon of ground black pepper
The spice mixture can be the object of your experimentation. Salt is not necessary, the soy sauce takes care of that.
This is how you proceed:
- It may be useful to press some of the excess liquid out of the tofu if it’s very wet inside and not too solid. Press the tofu between two hard surfaces to do so.
- Put the liquid and dry ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl and stir well.
- Cut the tofu into slices and dispose them in a big bowl.
- Pour the marinade on top of them and hussle the slices a little bit so as to drench all surfaces with the spicy mixture.
- Cover the bowl.
- Let it rest for at least an hour, or overnight in the refrigerator. You may occasionally re-hussle the tofu slices.
Then your tofu will be ready to be fried or grilled in the oven.
Simply delicious with vegetable and cereal dishes.
Enjoy this valuable calcium and iron rich meat-free protein source!
Modern meat substitutes
Since the last few years, more or less as from 2017, the food industry must have been smelling money with regards to the ever increasing demand for vegetarian and vegan food products. In our supermarkets a great number of different new meat substitutes are making their appearance. As such it is a positive evolution from the animals’ point of view. Because every human who skips a meal with meat from time to time on a regular basis, means that less animals that will have to go to the slaughterhouse. At least, that’s what we all hope for.
However there seems to be more chaff than wheat. A lot of those new meat substitutes are no champions with regards to their health value. For instance, there is a lot of stuff covered in breadcrumbs to be found, and believe me, anything edible dressed in a colourful jacket of breadcrumbs sure has something to hide regarding its composition.