Sunday, September 26, 2010

Tequila Lime Tofu

For some reason brainstorming Halloween costume ideas led me to thinking about burritos (don’t even ask me what the correlation was) and I decided that’s what I wanted for dinner. Tired of veggie burritos, and not having any thawed chicken, I remembered a block of tofu in the fridge. Tofu burritos? Sounds good. Then I started thinking about how I wanted to prepare the tofu. This somehow led my mind to the bottle of tequila in the freezer, and the idea was born: Tequila Lime Tofu. I searched for a recipe and found one that sounded great and easy. (Easy was very important as it is Sunday after all).

Tequila Lime Tofu (adapted from veggievixen)

  • 15 ounces of drained (extra) firm tofu
  • ¼ cup lime juice
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • ¼ cup fresh cilantro (or 4 tsp dried)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ¼ cup tequila
  • 1 teaspoon hot sauce
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon dried oregano

Remove the excess water from the tofu before marinating. Place the tofu on a firm surface and put a baking sheet on top. On the baking sheet, place four 15 ounce cans. The weight on the tofu should be enough to cause the sides to bend outward slightly, but does not squash the tofu. Wait one hour to allow the fluid to drain out of the tofu. Take drained tofu and cut into ½ inch thick slices. Combine lime juice, lemon juice, cilantro and olive oil in a bowl to make marinade. Place tofu slices, side by side, in a large baking dish. Pour marinade into container, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Turn the slices over after the hour and marinade for another hour. Preheat oven to 375 and place tofu slices on baking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes on each side (total 30 to 40 minutes). Serve warm or let cool and store in sealed container no longer than 3 or 4 days.IMG_2613This tofu was amazing. Marinating them for 2 hours really gave them great flavor and even though I cubed a few pieces to put in my burrito, it is great all on its own.

IMG_2614My BIG open-faced burrito. In the mix was: tofu, corn, black beans, red peppers, mushrooms, cumin, chili pepper, cayenne pepper and cinnamon (?) – Funny story: I did a couple shakes of what I thought was chili pepper and realized it was cinnamon… oops! It actually tasted pretty good in there though!

And on top: shredded cheddar, salsa and sour cream. I was able to roll it up into a burrito-like apparatus but my fork came in very handy for scooping up stray veggies.

About yesterday’s low-fat, sugar-free brownies, the secret is IN THE BEANS! The water, oil and eggs are all replaced with one can of pureed black beans! Sounds strange? Well it is… but the brownies are not! They taste like those Little Debbie Fudge Brownies of my childhood, I swear!

Directions: drain and rinse one can of black beans, rinse out the can and dump beans back in. Fill can to top with water. Add can with beans and water to a food processor/blender and puree! Pour mixture into bowl with brownie mix and when well mixed, transfer batter to baking pan and cook according the package directions. It’s that simple! Do it.

2 comments:

  1. this is hilarious because last night i was making apple crisp and right after i poured 2 1/2 teaspoons into my crumble mixture, i froze: did i just mistake the cinnamon for red pepper?!
    fortunately i didn't....i don't think my mistake would have been as forgivable as yours... :)

    ReplyDelete