Pumpkin Miso Tofu: 3 ways

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Pumpkins!

The food blog world is buzzing about pumpkin!  I’m a fan, too, and have gotten caught up in all things pumpkin.

It started with oats.  I added a dollop of pumpkin, 1t of maple syrup, a dash of cinnamon, sesame seeds and chopped pecans to about 1/2 cup of cooked steel cut oats.

This was such a warm, delicious breakfast.

I wanted to try to create a pumpkin “marinade” for tofu (recipe below). I started adding things that I like and came up with something that sounded good.  I pressed a block of tofu in my Tofu Xpress (for about an hour in the refrigerator), drained the water and then sliced the block of tofu into 12 thin slices (I tend to eat 3 thin slices as one portion)

I poured the marinade over the tofu and snapped the Tofu Xpress lid on and placed it in the refrigerator.  24 hours later I was ready to try to make the tofu…3 different ways!

First, you should know this was not a very liquid marinade. It was paste-like.  So as I prepped the tofu for baking and frying, I spread a bit of the remaining marinade on each piece.

I baked the tofu two ways

The top tofu pieces were baked on a piece of parchment paper sprayed with olive oil.  The bottom pieces were baked on collard green leaves.  I massaged sesame oil and sea salt onto the leaves before placing the tofu.

While the tofu was baking I sprayed a pan with olive oil and added onions and the tofu

The result?  Pumpkin Miso Tofu, three ways!

As for taste?  First place goes to the Pan-Fried Pumpkin Miso Tofu

The garlic and pumpkin flavor was subtle, and perfect.

In close second place (almost a tie!), the Pumpkin Miso Tofu Collard Bake.

I just love how the collard curled up and hugged the tofu. Veggie love ♥

And third place goes to the  Baked Pumpkin Miso Tofu

Here’s the taster plate

Along with my Pumpkin Miso Tofu x 3, I enjoyed brown rice and an impromptu salad

I diced half a tomato and half an avocado and tossed in the pan-fried onions and seasoned the salad with Herbamere and fresh ground pepper.  Very good!

JL’s Pumpkin Miso Tofu 

  • 1/4 cup organic pumpkin
  • clove of garlic
  • 1t maple syrup
  • 1t red miso
  • 2 t sesame oil
  • 1/8 cup veggie broth
  • 1/8 water
  • dash of cayenne pepper
  1. Press one block of extra firm tofu. 
  2. Mix all ingredients (I used a fork because it was thick) 
  3. Slice the tofu (I make 12 slices) and pour marinade over the tofu.
  4. Marinade for 24 hours

If you bake:  400 degrees for 20 minutes

Plain bake: Spray olive oil on parchment paper. Turn at mid-point of baking.

Collard bake:Massage sesame oil and sea salt onto the collard greens and place two pieces of tofu on each leaf. Turn at mid-point of baking.

If you pan-fry: Spray olive oil lightly on the pan and fry tofu for about 7 minutes on medium-high heat. Turn at mid-point of cooking.

I’m so glad I pulled out the skillet for the tofu. I tend to bake it in the winter and grill it in the summer.  I really enjoyed the crispiness.  I will definitely use pumpkin with tofu again. And with steel coat oats. And…

…How are YOU using pumpkin?