Corn Chowda

Tonight's dinner was a true experiment. I was testing the hypothesis that silken tofu - of all things - serves as a good way to thicken soups, dips, etc.

I've been having a craving for corn chowder, but I really wanted to try and make it without the cream, so it was time to brave the silken tofu!

I started out by doing the exact same thing I do for 99.9% of the dishes I make: diced 1 yellow onion, grated 2 cloves of garlic, and sauteed them until translucent in some olive oil and about 1/2 tablespoon of butter (I felt vindicated using some butter here, since I was skipping the cream).

I peeled and cut up 2 medium to smallish sized potatoes into bite sized pieces, and dumped them into the pot with 1 cup of chicken broth, then let that all cook for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes were tender. 

Meanwhile, I emptied a 12 oz package of silken tofu (extra soft) into a bowl and, using my immersion blender, beat it for 3-5 minutes, until it was really smooth.

 You can see the consistency was almost like a batter....definitely very creamy....

Once it was super smooth and the potatoes were tender, I dumped the tofu right into the pot and added 2 more cups of the chicken broth (use less for a thicker soup) along with a 16 oz pack of frozen yellow sweet corn.

Then came the magic:

1 small can of mild green chilis (I recycled the can before I read how big it was, but you know the ones I'm talking about - they only make one small size of these things)
1 tblsp pimentos
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (or to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Abra cadabra - creamy corn chowda! (go ahead - I'll wait while you say that out loud)

.................

I let it heat through while I grated some white cheddar cheese to put on top.

It was really good, folks.

Full disclosure - this did start to separate as it cooled - you can see it happening a little bit above. But for the most part it kept its creaminess and it really was very tasty.

Be brave! Don't fear the silken tofu! Don't get me wrong here - cream would have tasted phenomenal, but I just don't always want something that heavy and rich, and this really did the trick.

The hypothesis tested true, but don't take my word for it - brave the silken tofu yourself, and let me know how it goes!