If you’ve followed my recipe blog for awhile or read any of my cookbooks, you know that my family and I enjoy tofu on a regular basis as one of our primary sources of protein. I use it in everything from tofu tacos (a once a week meal in our house, and my daughter’s favorite dinner) to vegan spring rolls to vegan cheesecake, and so many yummy dishes in between.
To the uninitiated, tofu may seem an odd food indeed. However, it’s been around for 2000 years and remains a staple in much Asian cooking. There’s no magic or mystery behind it, as its merely soy milk that’s been curdled and pressed into cakes — a very similar process to that used to make dairy-based cheeses. In addition to being an extremely versatile source of protein, tofu contains all eight essential amino acids, as well as iron, calcium, minerals like magnesium, copper and zinc, and vitamin B1. It has even been found to lower levels of bad cholesterol (LDL).
For years, I’ve been pressing my own tofu by hand (harder and far less romantic than it sounds) and then sitting the tofu block on a wooden cutting board with paper towels and heavy plates on top.
If you’ve ever worked with tofu, you know that it comes packed in water to help keep it fresh. Draining or pressing most of this water out of the block before cooking is key to making tofu the proper texture (as in tofu tacos — the tofu should be the same texture as ground beef). It’s also key to helping the tofu absorb the flavors of marinades and sauces, since tofu has no flavor on its own; when more water is pressed out of the block, the tofu can better adopt the spices of anything it is cooked with.
All this is to say that when Ben from EZ Tofu Press offered to let me try using his press instead my aforementioned (somewhat ineffective and un-romantic) method, I was intrigued.
Using a press has made it much faster and easier to uniformly press firm or extra firm tofu for use in my recipes. And, (confession) since I rarely think far enough ahead to prepare ingredients for dinner at a normal hour, using the press is a great “cheat” for me to get a meal ready in a hurry.
The EZ Tofu Press is also easy to clean (dishwasher safe), made with stainless steal grommets rather than cheap ingredients that could rust, and isn’t made with any springs which can break easily. These features have made the EZ Tofu Press the #1 selling Tofu Press on Amazon.com for 4 years.
I have to say that I’ve now worked with the EZ Tofu Press for a few weeks and really put it through the paces. It’s become one of those kitchen gadgets that I never want to be without. No more paper towels and heavy plates for me!
Here’s one of the meals I made after pressing extra firm tofu with the EZ Tofu Press. The flavors from the ginger and other spices really permeated the tofu cubes and made the dish that much more delicious.
The EZ Tofu Press also made tofu for spring rolls easier to work with when cut into strips. I was able to get a lot more liquid out of the tofu and the spring rolls were certainly prettier for it!
Would you like to try the EZ Tofu Press for yourself? Enter to win one below!
EZ Tofu Press Giveaway from gfJules
Many thanks to my friend Cindy from Vegetarian Mama for introducing me to Ben and to the EZ Tofu Press. If you’d like to follow Ben on social media, you can find him on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter @Benzelben.
*Note: EZ Tofu Press provided me with a press for my use and review. This sponsored giveaway was created through my partnership with EZ Tofu Press. As always, all opinions are my own. Working with brands and products I love allows me to continue to bring you the best new product reviews and recipes and keeps this website running. Thanks for your support! To read my full disclosure policy, go here.
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I really want to try some chocolate tofu mousse.
I love tofu stir fry, but I’m looking forward to trying a tofu scramble!
I like making a Vegan Marinated Tofu Benedict with spinach from my garden on a GF English Muffin or toast.