Notes on tofu

As it turns out, not all tofu is created equal. Last week, I attempted to make my chocolate mousse recipe for a party, using a different brand of silken tofu…Nasoya. The result was a pureed mess of horrible soy-tasting mush that had a bit of chocolate flavor to it. It was so gross, I broke down and bought truffles at Whole Foods to take the party instead. I dumped the whole concoction in the trash.

So I’d just like to add that Morinu silken tofu is totally the way to go. It’s smooth and nearly flavorless, allowing the chocolate to really come through. I also have adjusted the original recipe to reflect my recent findings…a full bag of chocolate chips makes for the perfect chocolate mousse, rather than the 1 1/2 cups I used before. More chocolate is always better! And finally, I forgot the vanilla this time, and it was still delicious. What can I say? My recipes always seem to morph.

This time, instead of making balloon cups, I made tiny chocolate cups by spooning melted chocolate into foil-lined candy cups, then smearing it around. I chilled the cups until the chocolate hardened, then peeled the foil off. It was a lot of work, but the result was delicious. You can see the hand-made cup on the left in the photo above. The cup on the right was purchased at Central Market by my pal Lindsay…I was a little upset to find that you could purchase these things after I had spent so much time making them, but what can you do? I took these little babies to our crafty gathering last night, and everyone enjoyed them.

Speaking of our crafty gathering, we’ve finally decided on a name for ourselves: Zen Femme. It’s funny that we veered so far away from “Stitch” or “Craft” or “Make” or all the other words we had originally liked, but I love the vagueness of the name. We get together to have a good time, live in the moment, create, and be in the company of other wonderful women. It’s a perfect name!

You can see some of our photos at our new Flickr site, zenfemme1.

8 responses to “Notes on tofu”

  1. I’ve only ever seen (and used) Nasoya tofu. Perhaps the reason I don’t like tofu is because I’ve only ever cooked/eaten this brand?! Now I’ll be on the lookout for other tofu brands!

  2. That’s too bad…I often use Nasoya tofu, though only the firm variety. Now I know not to buy their silken kind.

    Zen Femme…I love it.

  3. If you can find it, Small Planet Tofu from the northwest is hands down the best tofu I’ve ever used.

  4. Anonymous was me, I forgot to put my name in. I also like 365 brand tofu, which they have at Whole Foods. i believe their headquarters are in Austin 😉

  5. Hi.
    I have never seen this kind of Tofu in Tokyo, Japan.
    but your Chocolate Mousse looks really delicious.
    I will try to make it …

  6. Isn’t that funny. Seems the same on the ingredients yet the processing must make all the difference.

  7. Hi! Tofu…a real mystery but oh-so-necessary, eh?

  8. It is kind of frustrating, but at least now I know which silken brand I like. I tend to use White Wave for firm tofu, but I’ve used others with success as well.

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