Tofu is going to be a significant source of protein this month. I’m not inclined to eat any of the various vegetarian meat substitutes for things such as hot dogs, sausages, or hamburgers (though if I was doing this in the summer, I might change my mind about that), and for right now, I’m not going to use seitan or tempeh. We’ll see how it goes; I don’t have many bright lines about what to eat except that the only sources of animal protein Rachael and I are going to rely on will be eggs and dairy.

So tonight’s superfoods are tofu and cabbage – not particularly promising when stated so baldly. While cabbage rolls stuffed with tofu in a tomato sauce might work, there are plenty of more appetizing ideas to be found in the Far East rather than Eastern Europe.

As anyone new to tofu quickly learns, cakes of fermented soy curd are hopelessly bland, a fact that ends up turning off more than a few well-intentioned eaters. Fortunately, pressing some of the liquid out of the tofu and replacing it with a marinade makes a world of difference. I made a simple press out of a couple of cheap plastic cutting boards for just such a purpose:

 

After an hour or so, I had squeezed out about 1/2 cup of liquid:

 

The tofu puckered a bit because I think I was too quick in tightening the press over the course of the process. Although the next step would usually be to marinate the tofu, I had some dipping sauce left over from a previous dish and decided to fry the tofu by itself to see whether just dipping the tofu in the sauce at the table would be okay.

Asian slaw is an easy and delicious raw vegetable dish that can be quickly made with a box grater. Just grate some cabbage and carrots, slice up some scallions and red pepper, mix in some chopped cilantro and chili pepper (I also had some edamame on hand) and toss with a rice vinegar-based dressing some 30 minutes or so before eating. I made a dressing out of equal parts rice vinegar, honey and canola oil and added a bit of peanut butter, some soy sauce and sesame oil, a dash of chili sauce and some grated ginger and garlic. Unfortunately, I fried the tofu for too long; its texture was too firm for the dipping sauce to gain much purchase.

But it was still a tasty dish and one that I might return to later this month to make some improvements.