Here is another recipe for children to help make. We had a lot of fun wrapping the cabbage around the tofu and securing with the toothpick. They’re also pretty cute when finished.
I got the idea for this recipe from the Mitoku website. Mitoku is a company in Japan that provides a lot of high quality ingredients like miso and shoyu that I use regularly. The recipe was originally called Tofu in a Blanket. What follows are my adaptations. Primarily, I have cut the amount of salt. We found the original recipe to be very salty.
The original recipe calls for dried tofu, but regular marinated and cooked firm tofu would work as well. You can use baked tofu made with a shoyu and ginger marinade.
Tofu Cabbage Pockets
6 slices marinated and cooked tofu, each cut in half
6-10 whole green cabbage leaves
3/4 cup water with 1 tsp shoyu (or gluten-free tamari) or 3/4 cup low salt vegetable broth
toothpicks
1. Bring a medium size pot of water to boil on a lower medium flame. Blanch a few cabbage leaves at a time in the boiling water until they are barely tender and bendable. Watch carefully so they don’t overcook. The leaves should still be bright when you remove them from the water. Continue until all the leaves are done.
2. Lay one leaf on your work surface. Carefully remove the rib if it’s too stiff to fold. Place one or two pieces of tofu in the middle of the cabbage, fold the sides in and secure with a toothpick. Transfer to a plate and continue with the rest of the tofu and cabbage leaves. Set aside.
3. In a large saucepan, bring the water and shoyu or vegetable broth to a simmer. Lay the cabbage pockets in a single layer in the liquid. Cover and let simmer 10 minutes. Remove from the broth immediately if it is salty or the pockets will continue to soak it up.