This evening I made the Tofu-lafels from karens latest book. They were absolutely delicious. The problem was though that try as i might they wouldnt hold together at all. Is there something I must have done wrong? I followed the recipe to the letter. The only thing I can think of is that i've heard some brands of "firm" tofu are different in consistancy a bit, and i'm thinking maybe next time I should try medium-firm tofu instead? or would that be unwise?
Anyway even if they never hold together at all, these will be a regular addition to my diet, I just love tofu!!!

(oh and karen I also tried your twice baked cauliflower tonight, and yesterday made soup as suggested out of the pork shitake mushroom meatballs, and I have to say I was amazed at how good they were!!! Thank you so very much for making this book, it is a lifesaver. )

Thanks!

It's really good if you cook some daikon in the soup stock until tender then add the meatballs and shredded Chinese cabbage and cook until the meatballs are done. Finish off with a drizzle of sesame oil

Let's try to get to the bottom of Tofu-lafel problem.

• Were you able to roll the tofu mixture into balls?
• If you could roll it into balls, did the balls sizzle immediately when they hit the oil?
• What brand of tofu did you use?

Karen

Thanks for the suggestion of the daikon! I did add a small zuchinni to the stuff i made on top of the fresh ginger and chinese cabbage, and like i said it was very tastey.

I was able to roll them into balls, but even then they werent holding together well.

Yes they sizzled.

The tofu I used was "sunrise" firm tofu.

That's the exact same tofu that I use. Was it the firm in the 350 g blue pack? One solid piece and not packed in water? It's the package in the middle, below. Did you use ground flax seeds?

Yup, thats the one I used.
This is the brand I usually buy, however I normally buy extra firm for stir frys and the like, or silken for deserts but not firm.
Though I can't recall if it was packed in water or not though....
Yes the flax was ground (bob's red mill brand).

OH! I believe I figured out what I did wrong. I didnt notice until just now when i was looking for some cinnamon sticks that I used cumin seeds, rather than cumin powder.

Thanks so much for putting up with my questions Karen, I think I will try these again next week sometime with the right cumin this time.

Hey, I'm happy to help out. I'm not happy when I recipe doesn't work for someone else, especially after I've tested it and taught it in cooking classes. I like to get to the "why".

Using cumin seeds as opposed to ground cumin wouldn't make any difference. Make sure the tofu is really well mashed with no big chunks. After you stir in the flax meal, try rolling it into balls. If it doesn't form into balls, add more flax, a teaspoon at a time. It's the flax that holds the balls together.

Karen

Cheers Karen, I'll try your suggestions out soon!

little stray here...I wish u offer your cooking classes on-line . I will surely be your first student . Just made your NY style cheesecake yesterday and had one for breakfast this morning...it comes out dense and crumbly and taste wonderful. I have been toying with baked cheesecake for a month...make 1 batch each week...so i have tried 4 different recipes(different combination of cream cheese, egg, and sourcream) so far.

Cooking is fun!

I'm plannning on making that ney york style cheesecake to take to my parents for dinner tommorrow, great to hear more good reviews about it!

(I just made the cream cheese, coconut, and lemon mounds tonight, and I just sampled one, it was delicious! These will now be part of my families traditional christmas baking in years to come, not because they are low carb, but because they are just so good! )

OK, you can hire the production company, and I'll do the classes on-line.

Glad the cheesecake turned out well.

Karen

I have been drooling over my copy of Karen's cookbook and am going to try the shitaki meatballs in soup with a lot of fresh ginger but I will add a package of Home (brand) tofu shirataki noodles they have only two effective carbs in an eight ounce package. I also use them in Pho, my favorite asian soup which I don't make but I buy an order to go and then dump the rice noodles and add the shirataki. the Pho broth has sugar in it so I dont drink any of it and eat the rest with chopsticks. I am diabetic and my blood suger does not go up when I do this so it seems ok. The noodles are ready to use but the liquid they are in stinks! I rinse them well and then boil for about five min. and drain again