Tofu Tacos

The man was so taken with Marination Station's tofu tacos that he wanted to reverse-engineer it. I was all for it. Seeing that there's no way they'd even tell us the recipes, we went back thrice to discern those layers of flavors. Bought a tofu presser and stuffed it into the suitcases. Most fun and useful gadget this quarter. :P It's possible to do this without a tofu presser. We'd just have to use hands, which would look rather silly.

The tofu isn't difficult. Pressed it to obtain the texture we wanted. Could freeze it too to extend bite, but not necessary. The duration of freezing it affects how chewy it could become. Chilling the tofu will do. It simply needs to sit in the marinade in the fridge overnight to get that salty tang. We knew the secret was in the marinade for the tofu and sauces. There's the usual walnut oil, garlic, onions, mirin and ginger. No dashi. It's meant to be vegetarian. Then for the additional squeeze-bottle sauce, there's gochujang, garlic, mayonnaise, and tamari. Don't use shoyu. Tamari contains little or no wheat, i.e gluten-free. Importantly, tamari is thicker and sweeter, not as salty as shoyu. You could add sriracha, but it must be the US version. We actually lugged back a few bottles of the made-in-USA sriracha. The Asian version tastes very different; oddly not as piquant or spicy.

Shredded the cabbage and carrots for the coleslaw. I can make very good coleslaw (which isn't just about the mayonnaise), which is why I'm grouchy when restaurants serve horrible coleslaw. Grabbed packs of corn tortillas. Tofu tacos! They were sufficiently savory. Hurrah! It was much later when I realized what we missed out- sliced jalapeños. Dammit. Didn't taste like Marination Station's, but close. I suspect it's in the composition of sauces. We brought it out to a potluck, and also hosted a small lunch. Our guests didn't seem to mind it. Whewwww.