Lemongrass Tofu

We have a flourishing lemongrass plant. It's six feet tall and spreading - a beautiful arching grass with the downside of razor-sharp leaves. It's in the back of a bed where I don't have to get too close to it unless I'm harvesting.

It seems silly not to use it, however, so I'm always on the look-out for recipes that use a stalk of it. If you don't grow lemongrass, you can find it in summer at the Hollywood Farmers Market and at Asian groceries. You'll get the stalk but not the leaves, which means you won't end up all scratched up like I do when I'm hacking a stalk off my plant.

This is a recipe from The Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfield. I find vegan cooks use a lot of apple juice, which is not something I keep in the house. I don't like to drink it and I rarely cook with it. However, some time in the last few months I bought a jar of organic apple juice, used the 1/2 cup or so called for in a recipe, and then froze the rest in 1/2 cup containers. So when I saw this recipe using both lemongrass and a small amount of apple juice, I had to give it a try.

Lemongrass is stringy - at least mine is, maybe because I don't water it very much - and when I tried to pulverize it in the blender it stayed stringy. I used it anyway, and we picked the strings off the tofu before eating it, but you might want to use a food processor for that part instead of a blender.

The flavor of this tofu is excellent. I cooked it in the toaster oven so as not to warm up the kitchen, and it made a great meal with grilled eggplant and brown rice.

Lemongrass Tofu
12 oz packet firm tofu
1 stalk lemongrass, leaves removed and discarded
3 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger root, peeled
1/4 cup apple juice
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup tamari
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup oil
2 serrano peppers, sliced
1/2 cup cilantro

Press tofu 30 minutes. I put it on a plate, rested another plate on top, and put a jar of barley on top for weight.

Peel off any really tough layers of lemongrass stalk. Chop it and put it in a food processor with the garlic and ginger. Process until finely chopped.

Whisk together apple juice, maple syrup, tamari, lemon juice and oil. Add lemongrass mixture.

Place slab of tofu on its side and cut into 3 thin slices lengthwise. Cut each rectangle into 4 triangles. Place in a single layer in a shallow (2 inches) casserole dish. Pour the marinade over top. Sprinkle with chives and cilantro. Let marinate at least 30 minutes, turning the tofu at least once.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Pour off excess marinade so it reaches only halfway up the tofu. Bake uncovered 40-45 minutes until the tofu is golden and most of the marinade is absorbed.

Serves 2-3

Marinating the tofu