Occasionally, I get the itch to stretch my culinary skills. When I do get that I urge, I generally go sans recipe and try to come up with something decent tasting. Although I do get the rare victory that I find acceptable, most of the time I end up with something that's one meal tolerable or worse.

Over the past few months, I've tried to come up with a somewhat unique tofu-based vegetarian dish that I'd enjoy. Sadly, most of my attempts have been the cooking equivalent of tofu genocide...the end results have gone directly to the garbage can for summary execution. My pine-nut/shallot/rice-vinegar tofu creation was not edible, and my vegetable/tofu/cheese mandu were not anywhere close to the enjoyment level.

Perhaps it's my lack of understanding of basic elemental properties of tofu, but I find that when it's used in a more traditional context, it just tastes that much better. Mapo tofu, stir-fry, pad thai, even plain slices with a spicy soy-based sauce...tofu works in those instances. I feel like I'm missing the spirit of food captured in those dishes that makes tofu a delight, and that's why I'm making all the wrong choices when experimenting.

In any case, more study and experimentation will be necessary before I reach any level of comfort when working with tofu. I'm sorry, but those of you looking for interesting tofu based recipes will just have to seek a more knowledgeable individual or text for now.