Orange Sesame Tofu

We had another Eat, Drink and Be Vegan night last night (we had quite a break from it and I was excited to start in on some more of Dreena's recipes, they are always winners with me.). I made Orange Sesame Tofu over Coconut Lime Basmati Rice, with a side of roasted broccoli that was drizzled with toasted sesame oil and tamari. I started by pressing the tofu for about an hour to remove the excess moisture. To do this I cut a block of extra firm tofu in half horizontally, wrap both halves in cheese cloth then I sit a smaller plate upside down on top of a larger plate, place the tofu on top of that and weight it down with a cast iron skillet. After about an hour the tofu is pretty well pressed, although if you'd like a drier tofu you can always press it longer.

I then proceeded with Dreena's recipe for both the Coconut Lime Rice and for the Orange Sesame Tofu. The tofu marinated while the rice cooked and then I prepped the broccoli. I washed and trimmed one head of broccoli into bite-sized florets. After it has dried slightly I place it on a baking sheet, drizzle it with toasted sesame oil, a dash of salt and pepper, then stick it in the oven at 400 with the tofu. The tofu took about 20 minutes total, and I let the broccoli cook for as long. After the broccoli is removed from the oven I splash on just a dash of tamari and mix it all up real good.

I served it all up and we ate it with chopsticks just for fun. Mairin was determined to use chopsticks and lo and behold, she was able to eat with them on her first try........it took me forever to learn to use chopsticks. She tasted her tofu and claimed to not like it, but I think she was just being obstinate, as she didn't make a face or spit it out as is what generally happens when she doesn't like something. She did eat all of her broccoli though, and for that I am happy!!

To finish it off we had Coconut Cake (also from ED&BV), but instead of a 2-layer cake, I turned it into cupcakes. I was also going to make the Coconut Icing, but it required Xanthan Gum, which costs over $10 at WFM, and I refuse to pay that much for any one ingredient. So instead, we drizzled it with Warm Raspberry Sauce.......ok, so I didn't drizzle it, I poured it on because that stuff is so dang delicious (we used the rest of it to cover our pancakes this morning).

All in all, it was a delicious meal. It was actually meant to be my birthday meal last week until my mom offered to take us out. It would have made a fantastic birthday meal, even if I did have to cook it myself. We did decide that next time the tofu needs some red chili flakes sprinkled on it. It just really needed another layer of flavor, and some heat as well.