[DocSanae]

Since FemmeMode mentioned in her post that tofu was one of her current favs and staples in her diet, I'm posting some popular Japanese tofu recipes for you. You probably can use this for pureed to soft food stages, as well as for regular diet.

First, some basic facts of Japanese cooking.

The major spices used in Japanese cooking are "sa, shi, su, se, so". Or, sugar, salt, vinegar, soy sauce, miso. If you are using a number of these spices, they have to be added in the mentioned order.

Two other major spices are both alcohols, "mirin" which sweetened rice alcohol, and sake, Japanese alcohol.

Another must is "Dashi", Japanese soup stock, especially as a base for boiling and as seasoning of various ingredients. There are 3 types of "dashi", made from kelp, dried bonito flakes and small dried fish.
Making dashi from scratch maybe a bit overwhelming if you don't know what it's all about, but don't worry, there are pre-prepared dashi and instant granular dashi that are on the store shelves of places that carry Japanese cooking materials.

There are 3 types to the prepared dashi.
1. Instant dashi, which is just soup stock, mainly sold as granules.
2. Instant white dashi --liquid--(I'm not sure by what name it's marketed in the US, so you'll have to look around, but I do know that you can find them) and includes as its ingredients, not only dashi itself, but also "mirin" sweetened rice alcohol (used as spice in Japanese coooking), sake or shochu which both are Japanese alcohol, and sugar.
3. Instant soy dashi --liquid--(again, not sure what name, but it's around) which is the same as 2 with soy sauce added, so it is brown in color.

Which one is used depends on the menu. The prepared dashi are concentrated, so you need to dilute them with water, the amount of which varies with what you are cooking, but usually, anywhere between 2-8 times.

[DocSanae]

Note: There are three types of tofu, momen (cotton drained, some what rough in texture), silk (silk drained, fine in texture) and grilled tofu.
Which type to use is indicated in the recipe.
Total calories pre block (350g-12.5oz)
momen: 252kcal, 23g protein, 14.7g fat, 5.6g carb
silk: 196kcal, 17.2g protein, 10.5g fat, 7g carb
grilled: 308kcal, 27.3g protein, 20g fat, 3.5g carb

Ingredients for 2-4 people.

ground chicken around 4oz
one piece of ginger, about an inch or so in size, either grated or chopped (minced) into very small size.
1 block of tofu, drained* (either momen or silk)

Seasoning: 200cc water (around 6oz)
50cc (1 2/3oz) soy dashi (dashi No. 3)
2-4 tbs sugar (or equal amount of splenda)
1 tbs starch (to thicken the gravy) dissovled in 1tbs water.

Drain tofu. This can be done by
1) wrap the tofu loosely with a clean dish cloth, place on a cutting board, set is at an angle, and place a heavy plate on top, and leave it for at least 10-15 mins.
2) Place tofu with paper towel underneath, on a playe and microwave on high for 3 minutes.
With 1), start draning before making the gravy and drain while the gravy is cooking, then heat with microwave for 1-2 mins. With 2) drain after the gravy is ready, and if the tofu is not warm enough, microwave another minute or so.

Gravy
Oil the skillet, preferably with sesame oil (as it has more fragrance) then sautee the ground chicken thoroughly. Add ginger to the mix, and when both meat and ginger is sauteed, add soy dashi then sugar (or splenda), add water, and boil for a few minutes. Add the starch dissoved in water while stirring the meat soup, and continue to stir until the gravy thickens, but still runs.

Cut the heated tofu into 6-8 pieces, place on a dish, pour the gravy over tofu, and serve.

[DocSanae]

Ingredients serves 4 people

1/2 block tofu, "momen" (cotton drained) type if possible
plain yoghurt 2 tbs
mayonaise 4tbs
salt 1/2 teaspoon
lemon juice 2 tbs

Drain tofu by method 1) in the chicken gravy recipe untill the thickness is half the original.
Mix drained tofu with the other ingredients. You can use a blender here.
Mix until smooth, and viola!!

Use as dressing for green salad, or any fresh veggie you fancy. If you are still on pureeds, the dressing itself can be take as pureed.

[DocSanae]

Per person
1 block of tofu (momen type preferred)
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs veggie oil (if possible, sesame oil for fragrance)
1-1.5 tbs flour
Ichimi red pepper powder if you have some.

Drain tofu by method 2), then score the surface to make the seasoning seep in better.
Dust the surface of tofu with flour, then place in oiled skillet and stir-fry until brown on both sides, sprinkle with soy sauce, and place on plate.
Sprinkle ichimi pepper powder to your liking.
For colors, add stir-fried veggies such as red, yellow and/or green bell peppers, carrots, etc.

Of course, if one block per person is too much, then you can cut them smaller and share.

As a variation, cut the tofu in half horizontally and sandwich slices of cheese then stir-fry.

The soy sauce can be replaced with Worchestershire sauce, mayonnaise or soy sauce based dressings as seasonings.

[DocSanae]

Post ops are adviced not to take anything in liquid form with their meals, once they are back to regular food. This is because liquids make you feel full, but passes faster than solid food, and can take the solid food along with them, making the person feel hungry faster. However, it is fine to eat something that is moist, so it can go down to your pouch smoothly.
With soups, savor the taste of the soup with the tip of your toungue, and ingest only the solid ingredients.
That said, recipe for miso soup.

For 3-4 persons

1 block tofu (either silk or momen)
1tbs instant dashi (granule type)
1 tbs per serving miso
6-7 oz water per person

Dice tofu into one inch to half inch blocks.
Boil water, add table spoon of instant Japanese soup stock granule.
Add diced tofu into boiling soup, and boil for 2-3 mins. Add one table spoon miso per 200-300 cc (6-7oz) hot water. Stir the miso until it dissolves. The easest way to do this is to place miso in a sieve or strainer, dip it in the boiling water and stir until the miso is dissolved. Let boil for another minute then serve.

Other ingredients can be added to tofu, or replaced with tofu.
For instance, you can add wakame (brown seaweed) cut into 1-1.5 in slices, naga-negi (Japanese leeks) cut diagonally into thin slices, daikon (Japanese radish) cut into thin quarter slices so the slices look like fans, carrots likewise cut into thin slices, etc. All the ingredients must be added to the boiling soup, and miso added as the final taste, after the veggies are cooked.

[DocSanae]

For 4 servings

1-2 blocks tofu (momen type)
1 small carrot (or 1/2 large carrot)
2-3 shiitake mushroom (dried or fresh)
4-6 string beans
2 scallions
1 egg or 3oz ground chicken
(1/2 naga-negi may also be added)

1/4 cup soy dashi
1/2 cup water
2-3tbs sugar or splenda
A dash of salt.
Mix the above beforehand.
1tbs veggie oil (sesame oil preferred for fragrance) for the skillet.

Drain tofu, and crush roughly.
If shiitake mushrooms are the dried type, soak in water for 30 mins first. Cut the shiitake mushrooms into julienne strips.
Cut carrots into julienne strips, string beans into thin strips.
Cut scallions into fine pieces. (Cut naga-negi into fine pieces also)
Beat the egg.

Medium heat.
Oil a skillet or a pan and sautee the tofu, crushing it further as you sautee.
If you are using ground chicken, add the chicken here and sautee until the color has changed, then add carrots, shiitake and scallion (naga-negi here, too). When the veggies are heated, add the mixed dashi, and stir and cook untill most of the dashi has evaporated. Add the string beans and beaten egg here, and continue to stir and cook. Cook until the consistency is is that of moist scrambled eggs, then turn the heat off, set in a plate and serve.

Total 150 kcal per serving with 1 tofu and egg used.

[DocSanae]

Is plain tofu, either cooled, or boiled and hot.

Seasoning: scallion, naga-negi, ginger, dried bonito flakes, sudachi or kabosu (small lime-like Japanese citrus)
Soy sauce.

For cool, keep in the fridge until just before serving, then cut into 4-8 pieces, sprinkle finely cut scallion or naga-negi, and pour soy sauce and serve.

For hot.
Boil water and make soup with kelp-based dashi. Cut tofu into 4-8 pieces, boil for a few minutes in the dashi soup, then place in a deep saucer and serve. Sprinkle naga-negi, grated ginger, or dried bonito flakes to your liking, squeeze sudachi/kabosu juice to your liking, pour soy sauce before eating.

[Kat]

I just took the time to read through your recipes. I'm going to try the soup made with the ground chicken this week. Can't wait.

[PeggySue]

Doc, your recipes sound great and I know the way my tastes are changing sooner or later I will try tofu, right now Im trying soy milk and am enjoying it in smoothies,
its really funny how tastes have changes since WLS.... Peggy