What I Just Cooked: Tofu Croquettes

Tofu Croquettes (or burgers, depending on how fancy you want to go)

Sometimes I get sick of doing the usual pan-fry with tofu, or the salad, or the soup, so I make tofu burgers. Before I got my little mini KitchenAid food processor, I had to be fairly energetic to make them though, because the tofu has to get pretty well crumbled up, which is a chore to do with a fork or knife. But now, I just get rid of the excess moisture in the tofu (usually by squeezing the water out with my hands — wrapping the tofu in a towel helps), roughly crumble it up in the bowl of the food processor and whiz away. I can't tell you how much I love my little mini KitchenAid. The motor is pretty darn powerful — creams butter like a dream. And what it does for tofu! Like whipped heaven! (This is sounding a little too much like a Good Housekeeping ad from the 60s...)

I found out that by whipping up the tofu, I didn't need any eggs as a binder. Which is great because sometimes you don't have eggs in the house. Today, I made a pretty simple burger. Just a regular package of tofu, about a half teaspoon of salt, some pepper, a grated carrot, ginger, garlic and about a cup of panko break crumbs to absorb moisture. Now, I call the burgers croquettes sometimes because, after forming the tofu mixture into patties, I pat them in a pile of panko before frying them up. The great thing about this burger/croquette is that you can add almost anything, like diced ham or peas or cheese or chicken or shredded cabbage. If you've added too much dry ingredients and the mixture isn't forming, add an egg to bind it all up.

Now if you haven't fried with panko before, I should say that you need a very hot pan and a good deal of oil. The oil should come to about a quarter of an inch up the sides of the frying pan. Keep the oil fairly hot, but watch it or the bread crumb will burn! I know I'm keeping the oil at a good temperature when I see gentle bubbles of oil dancing against the food.

Since I've taken care of the croquettes, I'll talk about the tofu and my latest discovery. Last year, at a branch of Whole Foods, I noticed a brand of tofu I'd never seen before, Wildwood. And a kind of tofu I'd never seen before, organic tofu made from sprouted soy beans. The package explained that the sprouted soy beans meant your body would digest the tofu better. I'm always up for better digestion, so I decided to try it, thinking it would taste like the typical American tofu, rubbery and kind of gross. But, boy, was I wrong. The Wildwood firm and soft tofu is some of the best tofu I've ever tasted. Great texture, great flavor. Absolutely nothing off. All I could think was "how in the world could an American company get tofu so right"?

Well, today, I did some checking on Wildwood. It's owned by Pulmuone, a Korean food manufacturer, one I know very well! In fact, most of the Korean food products I buy now are made by Pulmuone. And then, I recalled that about a year ago, I was watching a Korean news program that talked about how a big Korean manufacturer had bought an American tofu maker and was trying to teach them how to make tofu better. Well it figures that I'd end up buying and loving it! I just wish all the branches of Whole Foods carried it. In LA, I've only found it at the Pasadena and the Studio City branches. At least the sprouted soybean tofu. All the branches seem to carry the Wildwood tofu burgers, so why not the regular tofu? It's a good price and much better, I think, than even the Asian brand that they carry. One word of advice, the Wildwood extra firm has very little water and rubs against the teeth like chalk. Definitely not something to be eaten plain.

If only the Pulmuone naeng myun was as good! But that's another story.