Honey (or Maple) Soy Baked Tofu

Tofu and I never used to get along.

When I was a child, tofu was a regular part of meals.  Hot steaming tofu in lovely flavoursome sauces, fried tofu, tofu in spring rolls, tofu in claypots, tofu in curries, you get the picture. 

I never really liked tofu.  To eat it, I had to dip it, drown it and drench it in a pool of sauce.  All I could hear was my mum saying “eat, eat, it’s so nice, so good for you”.  I just didn’t like tofu.  To me, it just tasted like water, water with a touch of metal. 

Then I grew up…sort of.

Now I love tofu.  I just can’t get enough of it.  The problem now is that my bad tofu karma has come to bite me on my behind.  My children can’t face tofu.  They just don’t like it.

In my desperate attempts to raise a tofu-loving family, I have been trying lots of different ways of cooking tofu.  A friend gave me this great recipe for baked tofu which I am completely addicted to!  A quick and simple marinade, pop it in the oven and voila.  Done.

Only 1 problem, my children still don’t like it. Oh well, at least I love it!

What I used:

1 packet of firm tofu (the packet I used was marked 396g – strange weight huh?)

2 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs maple syrup (or honey)

1 tbs olive or vegetable oil

A couple of cloves of garlic (optional)

(I’ve also tried ginger which also works well.)

What I did:

1. Mince the garlic and mix with all the liquid ingredients.

2. Cut the tofu into pieces.

3. Soak the tofu in the marinade for at least half an hour. 

4. Turn the tofu pieces over and marinade for another half an hour.  I’ve been known to leave the tofu in the marinade overnight because I’ve forgotten about it, but I find that it makes it quite salty.

5. Preheat the oven to 200C.

6. Line a baking tray with baking paper or foil.  Grease the baking paper (yes, I do actually do this!) or foil.

7. Place the tofu pieces on the tray.  Drip some of the leftover marinade onto the tofu and bake for about 20-25 minutes. 

8. Turn the pieces over and bake for another 20-25 minutes.  (I tend to be a bit lazy and just leave it in the oven for 45 minutes without turning over.  I find that it still comes out ok.)

9. The baked tofu becomes slightly chewy and quite dark in colour.  I love the chewiness!

10. Enjoy and try (unsuccessfully in my case) to get your children to eat it!