freezing food that has tofu in it?

sparkle_monkey

Hi, Will it be ok to freeze coconut curry that contains tofu? Will it go watery when defrosted?
thanks!　 :j

Hellfire

It might go a bit watery, and the tofu might become even more tasteless, so you will have to take that into consideration when planning what to do with it. Having said that, my experience concerns pure tofu that I froze by mistake :rolleyes: so I don't know how it works with a food that has other ingredients as well as tofu...

sparkle_monkey

oh noo!, does that mean I have to eat it all in one go? shame :rolleyes:

Sarahsaver

If i buy tofu I freeze it before i cook it, as freezing makes it denser (forces some of the water out. A hint from some chef but i cant remember which.

RacyRed

I freeze tofu before I use it too, the texture is much better "cubed/sliced" recipes. I use fresh if I'm doing a "creamed" recipe.

I've frozen tofu leftovers before and they were ok, I think coconut curry should be fine but haven't actually tried it. Sounds delicious, what recipe was it?

Loadsabob

I used to freeze tofu before use, too. It changes the texture, makes it more spongey, which I found great when I was using it in bolognese, crumbled. Like RaceyRed says, thawed out, its less creamy, more bite to it.

Have recently had amazing tofu in a curry in my local Thai restaurant, and the ONLY way I can think they must do it is freeze, thaw and fry before adding to the curry. It's amazing, I'm going to try it at home.

RacyRed

Loadsabob, if you've not tried defrosted tofu cubes fried in sesame oil then drained on kitchen paper, give it a go, it is absolutely gorgeous!

sparkle_monkey

RacyRed, yep it was delicious, I just ate too much! There's no recipe as such, it depends what I have in, but the basics are about 1-2 tbsp of thai red/green curry paste (I buy the really spicy stuff from a small thai shop) and a can of coconut milk.
Fry up an onion first, add the curry paste, then add coconut milk, plus veg.
Today I used spinach, carrot, red pepper, potato and mushroom.
For extra flavouring I added lemongrass stalk, lime leaves, fish sauce and a little bit of sugar. I added tofu towards end and have to say it was a great way to get that extra protein and the blandness of the tofu was masked by the spiceness!
Other good additions are fresh pineapple, basil and aubergine, also prawns are great, I've chucked in banana sometimes too. This is fantastic to serve guests as they'll give you rave reviews and it doesn't cost that much.