Tofu Burger made with House Tofu Burger Patty Mushroom Mix

House brand Tofu Burger Patty Mushroom Mix

Folding tables at the end of aisle drive me crazy.
By crazy, I mean they make me throw additional stuff in my cart.

One of my local Asian grocery stores always has someone giving away free samples. And this isn’t just a little nut-cup filled with 1/4 of an Almond Roca like at Costco. These ladies cook.

So, one day I happened upon a nice lady handing out hot, cute little tofu patties. She was hawking the Japanese House brand Tofu Burger Mix. And I was buying.

Here is the package. The cover is in Japanese, but the back has a sticker in English with the ingredients, nutritional value and directions.

First, this is NOT a vegetarian or vegan product. It contains wheat, egg & milk products, dried bonito flakes, dried spices and, of course, a bit of MSG. Dried Bonito flakes are a staple in the Japanese kitchen – it is used to make dashi or soup stock that you find as the base of miso soup.

I’m sure you could make something similar with your own spices, but darn it, it is sometimes very nice to just open a packet to help you along. I don’t see this product on their House Food America page...but I know they have a different House Tofu Patty Mix (all in English I believe).

Take a block of extra-firm or firm tofu. Of course, House suggests their own brand of tofu (12 oz), but I happened to have an organic Tofu from Trader Joe’s (19 oz) in the fridge. As Esi says, I am a Trader Joe-aholic and I’m not quitting.

Drain the tofu. If you want, you can squeeze it in cheesecloth or press it between paper towels or a dish towel. I pushed it against this strainer. Add the House mix to the tofu and mash and stir. As you can see, there are a lot of Panko breadcrumbs in this mix and dehydrated spices.

Form into patties. You can make 4 patties from the mix. I made two large patties and a series of mini patties because I’m all about the mini.

Cook over medium heat with a dollop of oil. The best part of tofu burgers is that you are just heating it through and don’t have to worry about e-coli. Tofu is also much lower in fat and calories than meat, and has no cholesterol. The mix only adds 40 calories per serving and no fat (4 servings in a packet).

I served mine with okonomiyaki sauce (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter) and some pickled ginger.

Overall, I liked this mix and it tasted Japanese-y. I really like anything with a fried crust and this patty uses less oil than if you fried up tofu slices. This is a pretty cheap meal too...I don't remember, but I think the mix was $2-3 and tofu is cheap.

When I feel up to it, I’m going to try to make my own with some Panko, green onions, probably an egg and some furikake (Japanese rice seasoning that kids (and food blogging adults) adore).

In the meantime, stand at the end of an aisle, give me something on a toothpick, and I’ll probably buy what you are selling! Cheers, Mary the Food Librarian