Meatless Monday: Ginger-Sesame Grilled Tofu Steaks

Sorry for the lapse last week. When life gets busy, some things inevitably slip. But I'm back this week with an extra-yummy recipe to make up for it.

A lot of people, when they think of the grill, think STEAK! Now vegetarians can too! Tofu steaks, that is. I'd never thought of grilling tofu - I just didn't think it was the right consistency to survive grilling intact (like some fish) - but I was wrong, . . . and I've never been more happy to be wrong!

Ginger-Sesame Grilled Tofu Steaks
Recipe

The vinaigrette marinade for this dish is to-die-for! Once you try it, I would venture to guess you'll be trying it on all kinds of things. In addition to marinating the tofu and lime in it, as the recipe instructs, we also marinated some onion in it before grilling it. And we heaped giant spoonfuls on our rice too. Seconds? Yes, please.

While the tofu does hold up well enough on the grill, you still need to be careful with it. Make sure you put enough cooking spray or oil on the grill grates (before turning on the gas, please!) before you start and be gentle with your tongs when you're flipping those suckers, and you'll be just fine.

The only part of the recipe with which I struggled was the basting instructions. It said to baste occasionally as you grill, but how often is 'occasionally' supposed to be when the tofu is only supposed to cook for 2 minutes on each side? If you've marinated the tofu well, I would argue you don't really need to do any basting because, for us, doing so just meant that the tofu wasn't browned by the end of 4 minutes. Or maybe it was because 'medium heat' on our grill was not quite as hot as the 'medium heat' for which the recipe called. So, my advice to you would be to be flexible with how closely you follow the recipe when you're cooking this one. If it's not brown at the end of 4 minutes, cook it longer and/or maybe turn up your heat. If it looks like it's cooking too quickly or getting dry, baste away.

I would also recommend grilling the tofu steaks with the lime slices on them. Otherwise, you're just placing the lime on top of the tofu when you plate the dish and the lime doesn't really get a chance to impart its flavor on the tofu well enough. (You can't really squeeze slippery, marinated lime slices over the tofu and rice effectively afterward. Trust me on this one.)

Got any favorite vegetarian or vegan recipes?? Please share!

Other Meatless Monday posts

Meatless Monday: Tofu Steaks with Red Pepper-Walnut Sauce

I know, I know, steak makes you think of beef, and the typical dictionary definition of steak does involve meat. For this recipe, you'll just have to think of 'steak' as just a kind of cut of food.

I had never been a big fan of tofu. My husband really likes it though, so we've been having it pretty regularly the past couple of years and it's really grown on me. Like a fungus. Hahaha. . . . No no no. (Although I do like me some fungus.) Actually, what I discovered was that my aversion had to do with the texture. You tend to find tofu in soft, firm, and extra firm. The soft I'm not too crazy about. The extra firm, though, I quite like. And tofu is just so versatile. We've had it in various types of dishes, including some great stir-fry recipes, but it was this recipe that I wanted to share because we had it just recently and it was soo good.

Tofu Steaks with Red Pepper-Walnut Sauce
Recipe

This picture here doesn't do the end product justice. The red pepper sauce really makes this a pretty (and flavorful) dish. One alteration I would recommend though would be going a little easier on the garlic than they suggest (and this from a woman who LOVES garlic). Eight cloves is just a bit much.

Also, I found the heat (spice) level to be just right, but I'm probably on the wimpier side of the heat tolerance continuum. If you like your food to make you sweat a little, you might consider upping the 1/2 teaspoon to a whole teaspoon.


Got any favorite vegetarian or vegan recipes?? Please share!

Other Meatless Monday posts