| "Quick & Easy Tofu" |
Quick & Easy Tofu Cookbook
Author: Yukiko Moriyama
Hardcover, 104 Pages, Cheng & Tsui Company, October 1984
ISBN: 0887270271
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If one of your New Years resolutions is to learn more about cooking with tofu, then you might want to check out the Quick & Easy Tofu Cookbook. Yukiko Moriyama is a teacher with a degree in Home Economics from Japan's Women's University. She has authored several "Quick and Easy" books, including one on sushi and another on Korean Cooking. In the Quick & Easy Tofu Cookbook, she offers a varied assortment of recipes, from salads and soups to main dishes and even desserts, all featuring tofu.
What makes this book stand out are the color illustrations accompanying each recipe. For example, a recipe for Tofu with Meat Sauce shows you how to cut the tofu and vegetables, sauté the tofu, and marinate and stir-fry the ground beef. Furthermore, even without the photographs the instructions are clear and easy to follow. When I first began cooking with tofu, I frequently felt as if I needed a tape measure to cut it into precisely the right proportions. You won't find those sort of complex directions in Moriyama's book.
The recipes in the first half of the book are organized by the main ingredient in the dish, beginning with cheese and going through to seafood. The second half is broken down into salad, soup, and dessert dishes. After reading the book you can start the day with tofu and scrambled eggs, lunch on a grilled cheese and tofu sandwich, and dine on tofu meatloaf. For dessert, try a yummy creamy pineapple shake. By now you may be wondering whether the book contains any Asian dishes. There is a small selection of Japanese and Chinese recipes, including beef Sukiyaki, Tofu Chop Suey, Vegetable Fried Wonton, and Mushrooms with Oyster Sauce. Moreover, several of the dishes, such as Scallops with Tofu, clearly have an Asian influence. However, Chinese food fans searching for more authentic regional dishes, such as doufu fa from northern China, will have to look elsewhere.
The book's one weakness is that, although Moriyama provides a brief introduction to Asian vegetables and cooking methods, she doesn't cover the wide varieties of tofu that are available. Now into its twelfth printing, the book was originally published in 1982. Given that today's shopper is faced with a wide array of tofu types, from extra firm to silken, an update to the introduction and possibly some of the recipes may be in order. Nonetheless, she does provide nutritional information and tips for preparing and freezing tofu that aren't always included in other tofu cookbooks.
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