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Hello all!

 

The other day I was out grocery shopping, searching for a variety of tofu of which to take pictures for the blog. As always, I went straight to the vegetables aisle, near the rows of fresh juices and packaged vegetables, expecting to just buy tofu and needed vegetables. While looking around I came upon THIS strange thing…

…and behold, it was some kind of noodle made with tofu, by House Foods! All gluten free, vegan, and at first glance, it didn’t look too bad! On the package, the “pasta” was made with some kind of cheese sauce, almost like macaroni and cheese (my favorite all time food) So I added it to my bag and purchased it for good.

 

When I got home, I dived straight to my laptop to do some more on this new finding. I couldn’t believe that I had only found this type of noodle for the first time that day, and considering it was so low calorie, gluten-free, and vegan, I couldn’t believe this had not popped up yet in the vegan diet community. I will link you to a separate post on all the research I did, because there was so much that I learned about this new food. Check it out!

 

 

Anyways, I left it in the refrigerator until I was craving some mac and cheese, because I didn’t think at first that this pasta would taste any good with marinara sauce, or pesto sauce (although I definitely would love to try sometime). And to test this out, I adapted from the timeless recipe by Times Magazine on Facebook. I have used this recipe two times before, and speaking from the perspective of the amateur cook I am, this recipe is not at all difficult to follow, and it is so delicious. Plus, since it is a video, you can see with your own eyes the textures and consistencies of the sauce.

 

While cooking up the sauce, I opened the package and poured the contents out onto a sieve.

It almost looked just like normal, cooked macaroni, with more shine. There was no odor to it whatsoever, and the feeling was slimy like cooked pasta. I pressed some of the noodles between my fingers, just to test it out, and it did not give in to pressure. Quite stiff, yet slippery in feel, if that makes any sense.

 

After I boiled the pasta for 2-3 minutes, the pasta definitely lost its shine, but the noodles seemed slightly more “bloated” and more “fluffy” in appearance. Mixed with the sauce, it looked like this.

 

Doesn’t it look just like any normal macaroni and cheese? I’m still in awe of how this pasta made from just tofu and yam flour amassed to only 20 calories in total, excluding the sauce. Ah!

 

I placed the final concoction onto a nice plate and was ready to dive in.

 

After I took my first bite, I was very surprised.

Not so much in a negative way, I suppose. I expected my teeth to set into something soft and chewy like normal wheat pasta, but instead I met with a harder bite, something much chewier, almost like chewing into cooked mushroom. It wasn’t at all awful, it was simply a unique feeling that my brain was unaccustomed to and inexperienced with. I will honestly say, however, that halfway through the meal, I wished for a more normal, softly chewy texture. I think that could be fixed by boiling the pasta for a longer time, perhaps for 5-7 minutes, but that will be an experiment for another time.

 

Overall thoughts: the pasta was not too bad. Not very flavorful or soft like normal wheat pasta, but it is something that I definitely would like to try again. The House Goods website offered many recipes that suited well with the pasta, so I will definitely give one or two of those recipes a try. For my next meal, however, I’d like to try a longer boiling time with a creamy tomato sauce. Just a cheese sauce made the meal quite boring, frankly speaking. One thing that is still bothering me is that the noodles are not organic. Coming from a family that is very health conscience and savvy about everything being natural and pasture raised, I certainly made my parents raise a few eyebrows when I whipped out this package of noodles from the refrigerator. But, it is non-GMO so maybe I’ll let this slide in the meantime.

 

Below I have the modified recipe for the cheese sauce I made with the tofu noodles.

“Tofu” (or doufu, Chinese Pinyin spelling), also known as bean curd, is a food of Chinese origin, typically found on menus of Asian restaurants. I’m sure that many people will associate tofu as a Chinese word, but interestingly enough it is a Japanese word (fun fact!)

Anyway, how was tofu first made? Think of it like this. Back in the day in Europe, a land teeming with farm animals like cows, sheep, goats, you name it, milk was easily acquired and consumed daily. From the milk, so many other food products could be made. Filter out only the fat? You make butter. Coagulate all the protein? You get cheese. Making tofu is a similar deal. From soy beans that are dried, ground then pureed with water, and mixed with a little unrefined sea salt, natural curds of plant based protein would form. There are multiple theories surrounding the first development of tofu, but the most believable to me is the Mongolian Import Theory. The theory states that the method of tofu was adapted from the Mongolians with their cheese-making process from goat milk. The Chinese also did not originally raise cows or goats for milk. With a limited familiarity with the curdling process, it is more believable that they would have learned from the Indians or the nomadic Mongolian tribes, both of whom were deft in making cheeses and the like. But again, there is little evidence that any of these theories are actually true.

There goes some facts for today. I hope you enjoyed some historical knowledge! Tune in next time for some of the different kinds of tofu that we eat today!