When Méabh and Ronan, the creators of OTOFU, the West Cork tofu company, first met, they spent their weekends going for long, blustery walks on the beaches of West Cork, followed by hours cooking up delicious meals together.
Although they are neither vegan nor vegetarian, the pair particularly enjoy Asian cuisine and a plant-rich diet. And they ‘love’ tofu. In fact, it was this love that inspired them to start OTOFU in the first place. They wanted to show people how deliciously versatile tofu can be, how easy it is to cook, and the many, many health benefits that go with it.
Based in Ballylickey, just outside Bantry, OTOFU is now in its fourth year. During this time, Méabh and Ronan have moved house (twice!), and renovated their home with their two young boys in tow. It has been a wild ride so far.
You really don’t need to be a vegetarian to enjoy tofu. It is a highly versatile food and cooking it is as simple as frying it in a pan with a little oil. You can roast it in the oven, pop it in the air-fryer, or even just chop it up straight from the pack and throw it into a curry. You can breadcrumb it, tear it, ‘fillet’ it, mince it, scramble it, cook it in a meat based dish or just marinade it to get the flavours you want. You can even freeze it (be sure to defrost for 24 hours in the fridge before cooking), which changes the texture to be crispier and chewier, as well as allowing it to absorb way more marinade, like a sponge. There are so many different things to be done with tofu it is definitely worth experimenting to find your favourite way to enjoy this super food (see some of Méabh and Ronan’s top recipes below).
In the past, people have called tofu tasteless and boring – it is anything but! It is a blank canvas for the flavours ‘you’ want to add to it. And OTOFU’s handmade tofu makes the perfect canvas. Many vegan and vegetarian protein alternatives are often highly processed with long lists of ingredients. But tofu just had two key ingredients, and making it is similar to making cheese. OTOFU employs the same traditional, basic process that has been used for hundreds of years.
Ronan makes the tofu himself fresh every week. He has a background in food production and artisanal cheesemaking and is a true craftsman in everything he turns his hand to. Meanwhile, Méabh looks after all of the marketing, administration, orders, and even delivers the tofu herself. You might have seen her zipping around West Cork and Cork City in the company van. This is a family-run, family-owned, local business in the truest sense. And unlike many products which decline in quality over time, OTOFU’s tofu has only gotten better. With some help from modern machinery and a grant from the Cork North and West Local Enterprise Office, the company have been able to triple their output per day, since they began trading, while ensuring the quality stays at the very top.
And it is not only a delicious, versatile food – tofu is really good for you. It is what’s called a ‘complete protein’. To get a bit technical for a second, basically our bodies need different combinations of amino acids to make the proteins that we need to live a healthy life. However, we can only get nine of these amino acids through food, as the body can’t make them itself. Tofu contains all nine of these essential amino acids, making it a ‘complete protein’, which is similar to eating meat, fish, dairy products and eggs. Many other sources of plant-based proteins are ‘incomplete’ and need to be combined with other foods. The goodness from these foods is then harder to absorb into the body, which means you have to eat more of them – and also absorb more calories and fat – to get the same effect. This isn’t the case with tofu. It really is a super food.
Also OTOFU only uses organic, European grown, non-GMO soybeans, so there are no links to deforestation and they are certified in Ireland with the Organic Trust. The company is also the only Irish tofu you’ll find in your health shops or on the supermarket shelves, with all the other brands being imported.
Have you heard enough? Curious to try it for yourself? Well, fulfill that curious craving by cooking OTOFU, and in doing so support a lighter way to live, locally.
Some of Méabh and Ronan’s favourite ways to eat tofu include:
Oven roasted Korean chilli tofu, served with Asian slaw and home cooked oven chips, with a side of kimchi and spicy pink sauce (mix mayo, ketchup and hot sauce).
Air-fried Miso sesame tofu, tossed in corn-starch and drizzled with a little veg oil before air-frying for 20 mins at 200 degrees Celsius, shaking a few times while cooking, served with tamari noodles, sesame seeds and broccolini (a favourite for the kids).
Miso and Mushroom Stew, using homemade chicken broth or veg stock, with a miso paste, chunks of plain tofu, mushrooms, courgettes onions and red chillies, served with spring onions, toasted sesame oil and bowls of steaming rice.
Breadcrumbed fillets of tofu – to create the fillets, slice a block of plain OTOFU lengthways in two and then in half again crossways, marinade in soy sauce or tamari for 10-15 mins. Dip lightly in flour or corn starch, roll in seasoned breadcrumbs (or even better home-made herby stuffing) and shallow fry in a generous amount of veg oil on all sides until golden and crispy. Serve with mashed potato, roasted veg and herby, red wine onion gravy if desired.
For full information on all recipes please follow OTOFU.ie on Instagram.
