Tofu Loaf

Do not let the name fool you, this is actually a very tasty recipe. :P

This recipe was born out of necessity.

What do you do for those times when you have an intense craving for a certain recipe, let's call it meat loaf. But when you go to gather the ingredients for your meatloaf, you remember that you forgot to go shopping the night before and the cupboards are bare? You realise with abject horror that you do not have a single ingredient in that recipe.

You make some substitutions using what you have on hand and macguyver it into a reasonable facsimile of that thing you are craving but can't get to the store. If you are anything like me - and who doesn't feel too lazy to shop sometimes? - you come up with something in the general neighbourhood of what you are craving while at the same time being nothing like it. I had a craving for meat loaf but had no meat or potatoes. My regular recipe calls for equal parts raw ground beef and cooked mashed potatoes

What I did have were tofu and sweet potatoes. Now let me tell you, I was not at all certain that my concoction would go over well but it got rave reviews from my partner and they begged me to make it again.

Ingredients

1 block Extra Firm Tofu, grated - I have a grater that has 4 sides each finer than the next. I used the smallest side and the tofu basically ended up looking like corn meal. See the notes below for a tip on how to make the texture more meaty.

1/4 - 1/2 an onion - minced fine. I like mine to be minced very fine as if the onion is chopped too large you might have a problem mixing it all together. Depending on your preference, you could have it coarser or if you like them very fine, you could pulse them in a food processor.

2 small cooked yams, cooled - peeled or unpeeled.

1 - 4 Eggs, This is to taste you might want your loaf to be more eggy or less. The amount of eggs also depends on how well you managed to drain the tofu. The drier the tofu, the more eggs you might need.

Grated cheese - I don't have a measure for this. I had an open bag that needed to be used up. It was about 1/4 full. I threw this is because it needed to be used up and I thought it would help bind the loaf better than eggs alone.

Garlic and Herb seasoning - To taste

Oil - If I make this again I will use this to grease the casserole dish as it stuck a little to the edges.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Put the yams in the microwave and cook for 1 minute at a time until the yams are soft and can be crushed with a fork. You can also make the yams in the stove the same way you make a baked potato, I might add that as a recipe later :)

Once the yams have cooled to room temperature, mix the remaining ingredients and put it in a loaf pan or a casserole dish.

Cook in the oven for 30 minutes or until it is set in the middle. For a meatloaf with raw meat, I would cook for much longer but since everything I used was already cooked, I figured cooking for a longer time would just dry it out.

Allow your tofu loaf to cool for a few minutes before serving.

*A tip for getting the texture of tofu to be meatier - Leave the tofu in the original package and toss it in the freezer until frozen solid. Take the tofu out of the freezer and allow it to thaw out. The texture changes from a sponge like texture to something more like the texture of chicken. You can also refreeze the tofu a second time while still leaving it in the package if you want. I found it made a bit of a difference but not too much. I have never tried freezing it a third time but if anyone tries this, let me know if the texture change is worth the wait. When you take the tofu out of the package drain well.