Tofu Tacos Recipe

How to make it

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• First, open and drain your 14 oz. package of tofu.
• Dump the block o' tofu into a medium-sized bowl and mash it with a fork. If you make tofu scramble sometimes, mash it as though you were making tofu scramble. If you do not know what I mean, mash that tofu vigorously until the little curds are the size of recipe crumbles, or cooked TVP grains, or granules of ground meat -- however we wanna look at it here.
• After the tofu is sufficiently mashed, add 3/4 cup of chopped onions. The frozen kind is nice if you're in a hurry, but if you use those, let them thaw a bit first before cooking them.
• Mix onions and mashed tofu well.
• Stir the 2 tbsp of canola oil into the tofu and onion mixture, coating it evenly.
• Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and get it really hot on a burner. When the cooking oil makes a sizzling noise, spoon or otherwise transfer tofu and onion mixture into the hot pan.
• Cook it on high for a minute and then turn it down to medium heat. Look at your clock or set a timer, for this is when the "30 minutes on medium heat" part comes in
• Take 2 1/2 tbsp tamari and pour it over tofu and onion mix, then stir all of that with a spatula or wooden spoon to even things out.
• Repeat last step with half-packet of taco seasoning mix.
• After blending the taco seasoning with the tofu mixture, evenly pour 1/4 cup of water over your mix. Stir with spatula or spoon for even coverage.
• Do with 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (BTW, I have used dehydrated vegetarian "chicken" broth mixture w/nut. yeast in it before in a pinch, and it worked well too) what you did with the taco seasoning mix -- pour over and stir with spatula.
• Repeat last step with cumin.
• Repeat last step with paprika.
• Repeat last step with hot sauce.
• Cook the whole seasoned tofu mixture on medium heat for a total of around half and hour to blend flavors and make onions approach caramelization. Don't put a lid on it; let the moisture evaporate. Check on it every 5 minutes or so and stir.
• At the end of the approximate 30 minutes (some people may have super-powerful stovetops, so please keep in mind that it could be 25 mins. for some people, or more than 30 mins. for people who like it really browned!), mash the tofu mixture flat in the pan, sprinkle on lime juice if you want any, then flip over the flattened mixture as though it were a pancake -- do it in 4 or 5 segments. Then mash it flat again, turn the heat up to medium high, and cook it for 4-5 minutes on med high.
• Turn over segments of flattened mixture, re-flatten, and cook for another 4-5 minutes. These last 2 steps are to dry out and brown the mixture a bit. You may brown it a wee bit longer (another 1- 2 mins) if you wish, but keep a close eye on it!
• Your tofu "taco meat" is done. Put it in taco shells, then add what you like to put on tacos. I enjoy fat-free (and therefore animal product-free) refried beans with chili and lime, shredded cheese or vegan cheese, lettuce or leaves of fresh spinach, chopped avocados, and chili-lime salsa or other fruit-accented salsa. Tonight I'm using roasted yellow pepper, roasted cherrry tomato, and kalamata olive salsa. This "taco meat" is versatile stuff, and I always buy the extra-large taco shells so I can load 'em up :) This will give you enough "taco meat" for 8 normal-sized tacos or 6 extravagant ones.