Burmese Tofu and Squash (No Added Fat)

My daughter and I love tofu but it seems to bother my wife's digestion. I was happy to find a few days ago Burmese tofu, soy- and gluten- free, made from split peas and chickpea flour, and not related to Chinese or Japanese soy- based tofu. Apparently, Pacific Foods has a new line of shelf-stable boxed seitan and tofu; I purchased the seitan and Italian Herb tofu.

A few days ago, I opened the box of seitan. I was very hopeful - we all love seitan and it would be good to have another option of buying pre-made seitan that would travel easily, not having to be refrigerated. However, my daughter and I both were disappointed; she disliked the seitan and I found it tolerable but not tasty. It looks congealed in the cube it comes as and has a watery, subdued, and not very appealing flavor.

Today, I decided to make a waterless squash dish with pesto (while making dinner, I made another batch of pesto, as I described recently). Why not add some tofu to it? I broke open the tofu box and used half of the 9.2 ounces, sampling a little piece of it raw. It wasn't bad but wasn't so good, at least raw. Here is what I did for the main course:

Ingredients

• 10 ounce frozen butternut squash cubes (approx. 3/4" cubes); fresh squash could be used after cooking, perhaps not completely but till still somewhat firm
• About a quarter of a medium onion cut into 1/4" half moons (between 1/4 and 1/3 cup)
• About 4 1/2 ounces (I used half of the 9.2 ounce Burmese tofu described above) tofu cut into 3/8" cubes
• 3 or 4 T pesto sauce
• 1/2 t salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 t lemon pepper (or freshly ground black pepper)
• (Optional) Hot sauce to taste

Process

1. I put the squash, onion, and tofu in a small Saladmaster stock pan, covered it, and heated on medium heat until the vapor release started rattling
2. I then reduced the heat to low to allow waterless cooking for about 20 minutes
3. When I was ready to serve, I removed the top of the pan, and mixed in the pesto, salt, and lemon pepper; we also added hot sauce at the table

I also served a bagel half with fresh tomato, as well as a carrot.

Results

Dinner was nutritious but not as tasty as we're accustomed to. My wife wasn't crazy about the tofu; I thought it was not bad, but also not particularly tasty. She suggested using some Indian spices to make the dish more peppy. The main dish was somewhat soggy and bland.

Ideas for the future

The squash should have been cooked for less time to maintain more texture. As my wife suggested, some cumin, turmeric, and ginger could have helped. I don't know if I'll try cooking with Burmese tofu again, but would love to add a non-soy tofu to at least occasionally prepare.