Pressing tofu may sound strange, but believe us, you’ll be happy you did it before trying that new tofu wings recipe. To keep tofu full of moisture, they fill some commercial packaging with water. But this also means that the tofu is watery, which prevents it from marinating properly and getting a crispy fry on. It also helps keep shape for salads and stir-fries.
So it’s important to press out the liquid before you cook. This is only necessary for the firm and extra-firm tofu. Extra-soft and silken tofu are usually used in recipes that benefit from the extra moisture like mousse or smoothies.
There’s a wide variety of presses that you can use. The Ez Tofu Press is made of two planes that you place the tofu between. You adjust the pressure by tightening the screws.
Another common type of press looks like Tupperware containers. It applies pressure to the tofu like this one by ToFuture. The benefit of using a commercial press is that it works faster, and the compact size allows them to fit in the fridge. But if you don’t have one, it’s easy to do yourself.
Here’s a quick way to press tofu at home:
Things You’ll Need:
-Paper towels
-Two sheet pans, plates or cutting boards
-Cans (or some kind of weight)
-Tofu!
Steps:
- First, drain the tofu.
- Put paper towels onto a plate, sheet pan, or cutting board.
- Put the tofu on top.
- Put more paper towels on top of the tofu and follow that with either another plate or sheet pan.
- Add weight on top of this stack with cans or books.
- Leave for about half an hour.
If you want your tofu to be more chewy or firm, then cut the tofu up and freeze it.
