Can soft tofu be substituted for firm tofu?
The general answer is no. Soft tofu and firm tofu both exist because they are meant for different uses in cooking. That’s why recipes specify if you need one or the other, or some other tofu variety for that matter.
I recently found out, however, that there is at least one recipe where soft tofu can be used in place of firm tofu. There is a caveat but I’ll get to that later. I’m talking about dishes that use tofu as a replacement for ground meat.
The technique is simple enough. Press a cake of firm tofu — again, that’s firm tofu — between stacks of paper towels to remove as much water as possible, rub the tofu on a grater, spread the ground tofu in the air fryer basket lined with a sheet of baking paper then pop into the air fryer until browned and crisp.
Using tofu that way has fascinated me for a long time and I’ve been trying to find an excuse to try it (I do need my daily supply of animal protein, you see). I finally did earlier today. I slit open a pack of tofu (my husband bought it and the label simply says Japanese tofu) and found myself touching the softest tofu I have ever encounterd in my life. Oh, my.
…