Orange baked tofu parcels

Before getting to today's recipe, I would like to share four things with you.

1. I am a firm believer in trying to adjust my body clock to my new (arrival) time zone as soon as I get on a plane. It doesn't normally work, but I try.

2. After we got home to Australia last Friday night, I went to  bed at 9pm and got up at 6am. On Saturday night, I went to bed at 11pm and got up at 8am. For reference, I usually go to bed at 9.30/10pm on weeknights and 10.30/11pm on weekends.

I proudly proclaimed to my mother that I was doing very well indeed with jet lag, or lack thereof.

3. On Sunday night, I went to bed at 9.30pm. And then I forgot how to sleep. I was still awake at 10.30pm. And 11.30pm. And 12.30am. And 1.30am. And 2.15am. Then I stopped looking anywhere near the clock. I suspect I fell asleep about 2.30am. My alarm went off at 5.30am.

4. On Monday, at work, feeling over-hyped by caffeine and first-day-back jitters, I dropped my Very Necessary and Crucial workplace swipe access card into the toilet.

Yes.

Now I have that behind me, we can proceed to food.

These tofu parcels are a dish that can be prepared in advance, cooked in very little time, and made to look fancy with very little effort at all. They can also be adapted to whatever flavourings and seasonings you desire. You may notice that all of my posts this week fall into the 'quick' category. I am aiming to build up to more adventurous recipes over the month, but right now, in the midst of work catch up and varied sleep, quick is an important feature!

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the orange tones of this dish. I don't usually buy oranges, and as a result I don't usually cook with them, but these parcels were so enjoyable that I might change that from now on. I also loved the texture of the baked tofu. It was tender without being too soft, and evenly cooked all the way through. Although I have come to accept it, I don't really like the crispy 'skin' that forms on tofu when it is fried and so this cooking method was well suited to me.

I think these would pair nicely with steamed vegetables and rice, but when we had them I wanted baked potato and salad and so I went that route instead. The tofu did go well with those too, with the orange flavouring the salad in a pleasing way and the whole dish being suited to spring.

Orange baked tofu parcels

Makes 2 tofu parcels

Vegan

Print recipe

Ingredients

200 - 250g firm tofu (about two-thirds of a 350g pack)

1 medium orange

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 shallot, finely sliced

~2 cm fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 small carrot, finely sliced

Pepper, to season

Method

At least four hours before you plan to cook the parcels, cut two tofu steaks of 100 - 150g each. If you are working off a 350g packet of tofu, each piece would be about one-third of the tofu block. (You can of course make bigger tofu pieces if desired, and adjust the cooking time accordingly.) Drain and lightly press the tofu; these don't require extensive pressing.

Place the tofu steaks in a large dish and cover with the juice of half the orange, the soy sauce, the sliced shallot and the chopped ginger. Add on the sliced carrot and leave to marinate in the fridge for four hours or overnight (I did this a full 24 hours ahead of time). Reserve the other half of the orange.

When ready to cook, preheat your oven to 200'C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Cut two thin slices of orange from your remaining orange half.

Place the tofu steaks in the centre of pieces of aluminium foil, large enough to create parcels around the tofu. Drizzle the orange marinade over each steak and add an orange slice and a few cracks of black pepper. Fold the aluminium foil in at the ends and then join over the top, to create loosely packed parcels.

Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through and sufficiently hot. Eat the remaining orange whilst waiting.

The lovely thing is, you could take this recipe and tweak the ingredients to end up with honey soy, chilli lime, creamy mushroom, or tomato flavourings for the parcels (amongst other options). The variations are near endless.

What is your favourite tofu cooking method, or is that too hard a question? Stir frying has to win out as what I do most often, but I do like this approach too.

This post is part of my Vegan Month of Food contributions for October 2012. 

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