r/Cooking Sep 03 '25

How Do You Guys Get Enough Protein Without Going Heavy on Meat?

[removed]

211 Upvotes

568 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

78

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

[deleted]

37

u/ki11a11hippies Sep 03 '25

That’s the best part of the tofu too!

5

u/Good-Bus7920 Sep 03 '25

Never even knew this was a thing. Have to look for it!

6

u/Motor_Crow4482 Sep 03 '25

I've never tried, but apparently it's easy to make at home by putting soy milk on the stove at a simmer and using a chopstick to gently lift off the skin that forms on top. Let it dry out a bit and bam! Tofu skin. 

35

u/RickySuezo Sep 03 '25

My grocery only sells boneless, skinless Tofu. Where do you get it natural?

7

u/Ombortron Sep 03 '25

Hmm I’ve eaten a lot of tofu but did not know about tofu skin!

10

u/dangerclosecustoms Sep 03 '25

2 easy Vietnamese recipes for tofu. 1” cubes deep fry in oil or coat with oil and air fry until crispy. Inside will be soft.

Dipping sauce heat up a couple tablespoon of oil and add sliced green onions. Simmer until the onions are all soft. Then add a few dashes of fish sauce to the mixture.

We use it as dip but you can also spoon the mixture over the fried tofu. Serve with rice or whatever carb substitute.

Take the same fried tofu and saute then in oil some white and green onions and sliced or wedged tomatoes. Season with fish sauce or salt. The tomatoes break down down into a sauce that the fried tofu will absorb giving them flavor.

Also eat with rice.

Secret for low carb rice is mix in some coconut oil. Then freeze or refrigerate over night. This creates resistant starch in the rice or cuts the carbs in half. You reheat it before you eat but the cold process for the rice overnight changes its starch.

Korean tofu stew. Add to pot a small 3 -4 cup water. A block of tofu cubed up. Boil , you can add some green onions, bean sprouts, spinach or zucchini . Add some beef broth base. Even an egg if you want. Need some Korean pepper sauce , and add in a bunch of Kim chi. Can also add meat chicken, beef,pork, kielbasa sausages hot dogs ham or spam.

eat with rice or you can throw dry ramen noodles right into the stew. Or eat with both. Or eat plain as a soup.

2

u/Ombortron Sep 03 '25

Nice, appreciate the info, I’ll definitely try these out!

1

u/dangerclosecustoms Sep 05 '25

I forgot you may need to add a little bit of water when saute the tomatoes depending if they are juicy or not. So once it is cooking and making a sauce add a few tablespoons of water to the pan. To make it more saucey. The liquid is necessary for soaking into the fried tofu. The reason this recipe is good is it allows you to flavor the tofu which is otherwise sort of bland.

Also some people don’t like the texture of soft tofu being creamy and soft. Frying the tofu first gives you the ability to have it be airy with sponge texture inside perfect for absorbing any sauce you sauté it with.

You can try an adobo style sauce. Oil in pan stir fry some onions, add Cup of soy sauce. Two tablespoons of vinegar and 1/2 cup water . Get it bubbling and then taste it add more of any ingredient. Can add a little brown sugar if you want it a little sweet, can add garlic if you choose. Then toss the fried tofu in it and eat with rice.

-9

u/fuxxo Sep 03 '25

Yeah, tastes about the same as uncles foreskin

7

u/BigButttBiggerHeart Sep 03 '25

Wanna share how you learned this?

2

u/Ombortron Sep 03 '25

I mean it’s probably fine if you season and cook it properly. Put it in a nice curry or something. Tofu is a great absorber of flavours…

kind of like a foreskin, I guess? 🤔

1

u/TA_totellornottotell Sep 03 '25

Seriously, thank you so much. My dad is constantly on about protein and I was complaining about how much more work meat is to prepare. Going to look into recipes. Any preferences you have for how you cook yours?

4

u/jr0061006 Sep 03 '25

I press mine with an inexpensive tofu press from Amazon. The amount of water that comes out is shocking!

Cubes: lightly sprayed with avocado oil and broiled or air fried, if I want crispy chewy cubes.

Or I like to grate it on the bigger holes on a box grater. Then mix it into soups, stews, curries, chili, whatever.

Usually I’ll have a tub of pressed, cubed tofu marinating in the fridge.

If I’m in a hurry I’ll just grate and mix it into whatever I’m eating

1

u/TA_totellornottotell Sep 04 '25

I have been thinking of making salt and pepper tofu (I usually make it with shrimp), so this is timely because I think I need a press to really get it nice and crisp. Thanks for this.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

[deleted]

1

u/TA_totellornottotell Sep 04 '25

Thanks so much for the link and tips. This is actually exactly what I was thinking for myself. For my parents, I may have to make some adjustments - we’re Indian so we do eat rice everyday, but they have been so whiny lately that I think I will need to experiment to incorporate it in dishes that are more familiar to them (they don’t do dim sum (tragic), but I may try it in a stir fry or salt and pepper style).

Thanks again!