Tofu is a staple in every vegetarian diet and is often the dealbreaker when cooking for onmivores.

If you’re cooking a vegetarian meal for a mixed crowd, as soon as meat eaters hear the word tofu, they are done.

Preparing the tofu right can help make it tolerable for them, because we know you’ll never win over the tofu haters completely.

Pan fried with a cornmeal crust is one way to do that.

I always press the water out of the tofu with paper towels and a couple of plates. Pressing tofu and getting excess water out of it helps with the texture.

There are devices out there that do this task for you, but the cheaper way is to put a layer of paper towels above and below a brick of tofu on a plate. Put another plate on top and put a few pounds of weight on top of the plates. It should be enough pressure to slowly squeeze out the water, but not enough to crush the tofu.

Next create the liquid mixture, mix the soymilk with cornstarch to make it thicker, totally disolving the corn starch.

In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients well.

After about 20 minutes of pressing the tofu, slice the tofu and then cut into triangles.

Dip in the liquid, then coat with the cornmeal mixture.

Fry in about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil, allowing each side to brown, then drain before serving.

Ingredients:
1 pound of tofu

1 cup soymilk
2 tbsps. cornstarch

1 tsp. liquid smoke
1 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tbsps. cajun seasoning

1 tsp. cumin
Oil for frying