Shredded Tofu Tacos

Ha - it's been over a year since I posted here. Not surprising - life has continued to be Life-ing, and food has been more "fuel" than something I want to spend time and creativity on. When I'm cooking these days it's usually the same handful of dishes - BBQ tofu is frequent, shrimp with veggies & boxed rice pilaf, pasta with whatever's on hand, occasionally shepherd's pie, soup or chili. 

My BBQ tofu is one of my spouse's favorite meals (though that might due to the mashed potatoes I serve it with), and tofu continues to be a super affordable protein source. Also I'm still trying to reduce my meat consumption. The BBQ recipe is a little more involved with the tofu prep, although it's largely hands-off in the oven. I decided to switch it up and try something I've been seeing recipes for: shredded/grated tofu. Indeed, this is a really easy and fast method that you could go any number of ways with - probably anything you'd use ground meat for. I made tacos, but I think I'll do Asian-style next time (maybe in these Korean-style rice bowls). I think it would also work with just BBQ sauce if you want to do meatless BBQ sandwiches. Or Italian seasonings, and add the crumbles to pasta sauce.

Street-style tofu tacos with onion, cilantro & avocado

Basically I'll just lay out the cooking method:

- Start with a block of extra firm tofu. Some recipes say you don't have to press it. I did since I had time, but the water cooks out in the pan - might just take a little longer to cook if you don't press it. Grate it on the large holes of a box grater (I cut the block in half crosswise first).

- Heat a pan (non-stick is probably best) on medium-high heat and add some oil. Cook the tofu, stirring occasionally, until it gets brown and starts to crisp. Mine took about 10-12 minutes total.

- I added some chopped onion & green pepper after it was mostly browned. You could also add minced garlic here.

- Add salt and whatever spices you like. For taco flavor I used chili powder, smoked paprika and garlic powder. Also add a splash of soy sauce. I think this works for any flavor and it also adds color. Keep cooking until it's the texture you want. I thought mine was a bit dry so I added some salsa.

- Taste and see what it needs for seasoning!

I already have a recipe for vegan shepherd's pie using lentils, but maybe these tofu crumbles are worth trying too...hmmm!