Tips on cooking tofu please

I am going to cook tofu in a curry for tomorrow night's dinner. I have never cooked tofu before. Is there anything I need to know about cooking it. Can it be undercooked/overcooked? On another website someone mentioned they put it in last, so that the cubes stay whole.

marinate with some soyasaucecubes and fry , add last to curry.

You can get pre fried tofu from Asian shops. This goes well in curry and will maintain its shape.

I find the vegetarian sausages you can get at the supermarket go well in curry especially curry sausages :)

Thanks for that.

The brown fried tofu goes well in curries... especially Assam curries. You can get firm tofu which doesn't break down as easy like normal ones.

Japanese tofu is slightly firmer and great for savoury dishes (comes in cylindrical/circular tubes)

I find that tofu is rather tasteless, so definately marinating in soy 9 I prefer tamari) and garlic as it takes on any flavours that you put with it. I used to marinate in tamari, garlic or sometimes ginger and stir fry with whole green beans, sliced peppers, mushrooms, snow peas, carrot etc and either have on it's own or sometimes with rice.

Whatever you cook add the prepared tofu at the last moment and simply heat through. Makes a great vegetable stew or curry.
V

A tasty curry recipe for three:

1 onion, diced
1 tsp cumin seed, coarsely ground in a mortar and pestle
1 tsp coriander seed, prepared as per cumin
1/2 tsp garam marsala
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
(or substitute last 3 ingredients for 1 tsp fresh Vencat curry powder, available from New World)
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup cubed pumpkin
1/2 cup boiled water
1 can tomato puree
300 g medium rinsed fresh tofu cut into 3 cm cubes (I prefer Japanese style, firm style can be like eating rubber)
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 cup frozen green beans
2/3 cup frozen peas
1 small can coconut cream

Method:

Gently fry the onion in oil in a large pot until translucent. Add spices and fry a little longer. Add salt and pumpkin and stir a bit more. Add hot water and cook until pumpkin is soft.

Add tomato puree, then green beans and tofu. Be careful not to stir too much to keep the tofu pieces relatively whole. Cover and simmer for a few minutes, then add the frozen peas and cook until they are done. (Adding the peas last ensures they keep their sweetness. ) You might like to add a little sugar and extra salt to taste.

Add the garlic and as much coconut cream as you like. I'd start with half a small can and go from there.

Serve over rice - the basmati the better :) Decorate with a swirl of coconut cream reserved from the can.

We have found lightly frying it on a low heat to get excess moisture out gives a nice texture. I buy the firm one at the Asian supermarket and prefer the texture and taste - it does need eating within a few days though. The ones the regular supermarket sells seems to have taste "bitter" and have the texture of a bath sponge -not sure if its because they are "long life" ones?
Its fairly tasteless on its own so does need marinating or put into a sauce to absorb some flavour.

if you are frying it you need to look for firm or pressed tofu.
In some of the asian shops it's called Juten. Silken or soft or anything other than firm will fall apart when you cook it and silken basically acts as a thickener and disappears completely. They all have their purpose.
I had some pressed tofu in tempura with terikyaki sauce today from a japanese takeaway and it was yummy, like a battered sausage, not a bit healthy! !