I have this recipe book I bought from my daughter’s school fundraiser in kindergarten. It’s one of those you can write your own recipes in. For the first two months I thought it was genius and jotted down recipes from my grandma, and my own recipe tests and concoctions. My daughter is going to be a junior in high school, so this book has made it through several moves, a fire, and lots of spills and smudges.
One of our favorite recipes in this book is sweet and sour pineapple tofu. I have been making this for so long it is actually written down as sweet and sour pineapple CHICKEN. I’ve been a vegetarian for 8 years, so you do the math. If chicken is more your jam than tofu, then feel free to submit and cook it in a Tablespoon or two of butter til it is browned.
Like I said, I am a long-time vegetarian. However, the rest of my family still eats meat. This sweet and sour pineapple tofu is the one dish every member of my family can agree on because they all love it! Yes, that’s right. 9 year olds and my husband not only eat tofu, they BEG for it! It has gone so far that my husband can even cook this dish and press tofu with the best of them. If you’ve been afraid to try tofu, this is a good gateway dish.
The key to good tofu is pressing all of the water out of it. Most tofu comes submerged in water to keep it fresh. If you don’t get enough of the water pressed out you’ll be left with spongy, squishy, SLIMY tofu. I find a lot of the tofu I have had in restaurants falls under this category. No wonder people don’t like it! But when tofu is properly prepared and cooked it has an appetizing texture – no slime in sight.
Tofu Tips
If you have never cooked tofu before it might seem a little intimidating. But once you get the hang of it, it’s super easy. Tofu is pretty flavorless on its own, and will easily absorb whatever you cook it in as long as the water is pressed out. You can get a tofu press, by personally I press it by hand with a flour sack dish towel. Start by lightly pressing with your hands, then sit something heavy on top of it for a bit. Once I start cubing it up I take another towel (or paper towel) and lightly press each piece.
Sweet And Sour Pineapple Tofu
If you want to substitute chicken in this recipe, cube up about 2 lbs of chicken breast. But if you are looking to try some more meatless meals, I highly recommend this sweet and sour pineapple tofu. If you try it, please come back and let me know what you thought! Check out some more tofu recipes here.
- 1 package of firm or extra firm tofu, pressed
- 1 8 oz can pineapple chunks, drained
- 1/2 C brown sugar
- 2 T vinegar
- 2 T butter or olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 T corn starch
- 2 T soy sauce/aminos
- Press water out of tofu and cube. Toss tofu with 1 T corn starch so it is lightly coated.
- Add oil/butter to pan, then garlic and tofu. Cook over low to medium heat til tofu is lightly browned on all sides. Add pineapple and mix. Add brown sugar and vinegar, cook and mix until the sugar melts. Add soy sauce.
- Mix 1 T corn starch and 1 T of water and pour into pan. Stir until sauce has thickened. Serve with rice.
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