Tofucado - with rice and cucumber

One of our favourite easy meals of Summer was Tofucado.  It is one of the meals that Sylvia kept requesting, especially on a hot day.  The clever portmanteau name is so much fun to say.  I am pleased to report that the meal is every bit as good as the name!  It is a simple cross between a stirfry and a salad.  Grated tofu is fried, then mixed with mushed avocado, carrot, spring onions and seasoning, and finally served with rice, cucumber and roasted seaweed. 

This is a recipe that needs patience.  The patience is in preparing the tofu.  The more you press the moisture out of the tofu, the better the tofu fries.  On one occasion we started to press the tofu one evening and then decided to make the tofucado the next night.  As the tofu was already in the press, we left it for 24 hours and it made really good fried tofu.

Patience is also needed for frying the tofu.  It needs to only be stirred from time to time so it has an opportunity to get crispy and golden.  I find it helps to get distracted by something else because otherwise it seems to take forever.  We usually buy a 500g block of tofu and use the other half to make tofu bacon.  However the crispy fried strands of tofu are so good that I could just eat them as a side dish, especially once the tablespoon of soy sauce is stirred in.  But I like to do only 250g at a time because it has room in the cast iron fry pan to crisp up.

The other part of the recipe that requires time is cooking the rice.  In I'm a Food Blog's recipe, they have white rice.  Since we have started to make tofucado we always serve it with brown rice.  I much prefer it.  Once you get used to brown rice, as we have recently, white rice seems to lack substance.  As you can see in the photo above, we made a much bigger pot of brown rice than we need for the tofucado.  Leftover brown rice is great to have on hand for all sorts of meals.

When the rice and fried tofu are ready, it is pretty quick to put prepared the vegetables and mix the avocado mixture.  In our house, I usually get the rice and tofu together and Sylvia puts together the rest of the meal.  It works really well for us when I have been working in the office all day and come home with very little energy to put dinner together. 

Most times that we have made the tofucado, I add more vegetables.  There have been one or two nights have been really tired and don't add a thing.  It is great as is or with extra veg.  If you have furikake, I highly recommend sprinkling some over your meal before digging in.  You can see fuikake on the seaweed in the above photo.  The top photo had celery and cherry tomatoes added.  The below photo has the addition of rice, lettuce and tinned beetroot. I love how this recipe can be simple or packed with vegies.  And it is both vegan and gluten free.

There have been many new terms that I have learnt over the last few months - DOGE, SLAPP, perseverating, hetero-pessimism, kuchisabishii and the Finkbeiner test.  So many new ideas.  I am pleased to include tofucado among my new words.  It sounds like a fantasy vegetable that might be like an avocado with tofu instead of the stone.  This dish is a winner because it is quick, easy and nutritious.  Having a fun name is just another reason to love it.  

 More avocado in salad on Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:

• Avocado green goddess salad dressing, served on spinach, tomato, avocado, cucumber, walnuts (gf, v) 
• Avocado, pear and pecan salad (gf)
• Avocado, pickled ginger and tofu soba noodle salad (gf, v)
• Leon superfood salad (gf) 
• Strawberry, avocado and walnut salad with a chocolate vinaigrette (gf, v)
• Sushi (purple) salad with tofu nuggets (v) 
  
  

Tofucado
Serves 2
Adapted from I'm a foodie

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 250 g tofu extra firm, grated
• 1 large avocado
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce, divided
  
• 2 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1/4 tsp chilli paste
• 1 to 2 carrots, grated
• 2 spring onions, sliced

 To serve:

• 2-3 cucumbers, finely diced
• 2 packs roasted seaweed
• 2-3 cups cooked brown rice
• furikake, to sprinkle

[Before starting the recipe, we will cook the brown rice and press the tofu, but if you have cooked brown rice and extra firm tofu, you can skip this step.]

Heat oil in a cast iron frypan and then fry the grated tofu, leaving for a minute or so at a time before frying it so it becomes golden and crispy.  It will take 5-10 minutes to fry the tofu.  

While the tofu fries, mash avocado and mix with 1 tbsp soy sauce, mayonnaise and chilli paste.  Mix in grated carrot and sliced spring onions. 

When the tofu is fried, stir into the avocado mixture.    Arrange in bowls with warm rice, diced cucumbers and roasted seaweed sheets.  Serve sprinkled with fuikake if you have it.

NOTES: For a vegan version, use vegan mayonnaise.  For a gluten free version, make sure the soy sauce is gluten free.  This dish works well with either white or brown rice and vegies of your choice on the side.

On the Stereo:
Be OK: Iris Michaelson