Posts Tagged tofu

Mabo dofu plus…natto!

January 11, 2015 at 2:34 pm · Filed under tofu ·Tagged , ,

Vegetarian spicy tofu

I’ve written about mabo dofu (that is, spicy tofu, also transliterated as mapo doufu) before, because it’s so darn tasty. The origins are Szechwanese, but it’s a very popular dish in Japan.

This version was extra-special, though, based on a recipe that Yusuke happened upon recently. Traditional mabo dofu is supposed to have ground pork, or possibly ground beef, but that just ruins everything. This is a lovely vegan* version of the classic dish, with mushrooms and natto instead of dead animals. Yes, natto: those slippery, pungent fermented soybeans. Along with the mushrooms, they provided a perfect texture and layering of umami.

Yusuke pretty much followed his usual recipe (quantities are approximate):

  • 1/4 tsp minced ginger
  • 1/4 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp chili bean sauce (a.k.a. tobanjan)
  • 1 tbsp sweet bean sauce (a.k.a. tenmenjan)
  • Broth*, around 250 mL
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp katakuriko (Japanese potato starch), dissolved in 2 tbsp of water
  • Green onions, thinly sliced or chopped
  • 2 packages of silken tofu, cut into cubes
  • Lots of mushrooms, chopped
  • 2 packages of frozen natto
  • Splash of soy sauce
  • Splash of rice wine vinegar
  1. Saute ginger and garlic in sesame oil
  2. Add tenmenjan and tobanjan and stir
  3. Add mushrooms
  4. After mushrooms begin to cook, add natto and mix
  5. Add broth, tofu (gently), and green onions and continue to stir
  6. Add a tiny bit of vinegar and soy sauce
  7. Drizzle in the katakuriko mix
  8. Eat with plain rice (and miso soup and salad)

Lovely, filling texture and awesomely spicy taste.

*Yusuke used chicken stock, but veggie broth is fine, as is dashi stock.

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Tofu making: the fail episode

January 5, 2015 at 9:47 am · Filed under tofu ·Tagged

The great tofu making adventure of 2011 was successful, if messy, and it seemed like high time to try again.

The steps were pretty much the same in this episode:

  1. Buy soy beans from the grocery store (dried)
  2. Soak overnight. 300g soy beans in 1 litre of water
  3. Drain the beans and purée in the blender
  4. Boil the purée with more water. Cook until there is no more “green”/raw smell, about 10 minutes
  5. Put the purée in muslin cloth and squeeze out the liquid into a bowl in order to the separate the “extra” material (okara*)
  6. Heat the liquid (now soy milk) to 70 degrees C in microwave
  7. Add nigari* and mix quickly
  8. Wait until the tofu sets
  9. Eat! [and clean up]

However, we had a lot of trouble at the muslin cloth step. The soy bean mixture was pretty mashy and although we squeezed with all our might and used a variety of implements, we couldn’t get much liquid out. So after about 2 hours of work, we had only 4 small ramekins of soy milk. We had tons of okara, though, so that’s a success.

The second problem was that the tofu didn’t set. It just stayed at soy milk consistency. I don’t know if was a problem with the nigari or the temperature or what. Sad panda. So we ended up with a wee bit of soy milk and lots of okara. And lots of mess. Ah well, it was a diversion.

*See previous post

Ready to squeeze

Ready to squeeze

Okara

Okara

A wee bit of soy milk was produced

A wee bit of soy milk was produced

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Red quinoa delight

July 12, 2014 at 6:28 am · Filed under general veggie dish, tofu ·Tagged , , ,

Red quinoa delight

I made this one, and it doesn’t look half bad.

Procedures:

  1. Cook gorgeous, jewel-like red quinoa in rice cooker (same water proportion and setting as plain white rice)
  2. Dump approx 1 tbsp each of mixed garlic and ginger in frying pan
  3. Add sliced white onions
  4. Add ‘white’ bits of chopped bok choy
  5. Add chopped carrots
  6. Add ‘green’ bits of chopped bok choy
  7. When all is cooked, add cooked quinoa
  8. Add smashed silken tofu
  9. Add a couple drops of olive oil
  10. Mix all and season to taste with soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Sriracha or other spicy sauce is also good!

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Koyadoufu scramble

April 25, 2013 at 7:59 pm · Filed under tofu ·Tagged , , ,

koyadoufu

I wrote about koyadofu (or koyadoufu or こうやどうふ) a while back—it’s dried tofu that can be re-hydrated.

We recently found some koyadofu at an Asian market and snatched it up.

To use this miraculous food, first soak the blocks in water for about 10-20 seconds, then gently squeeze out the water.

Here, Yusuke again combined it, cubed, with eggs.

He also included a leafy Chinese green in the scramble. I’m not 100% sure of the species, but I believe it is tsoi (or choy) sim (or sum). We frequently see it in grocery markets here, and it’s often one of the cheapest greens. The taste is similar to boy choy, but a bit heartier, like spinach. [Ergo, I tagged this post with both, because either could be substituted.]

Yusuke cooked the greens, koyadofu, and eggs in a frying pan, and then added tsuyu (soba sauce). (You can make your own tsuyu with soy sauce, mirin, and dashi.)

Typical Japanese!

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Asparagus-tofu-onions with sweet soy sauce

March 28, 2013 at 6:29 am · Filed under stir fry, tofu ·Tagged ,

Image

Yup, this is another example of my work.

A few times recently, we’ve ended up with more tofu than we could consume in one sitting, so I stuck the leftovers in the freezer. This does interesting things to its texture, making it spongy (in a good way) when thawed. You can squeeze the water left from the ice right out without breaking the tofu. Then you can then cut it into cubes for use in stews or stir fries to soak up other flavours, or crumble it up for a stir fry or casserole. Tofu can be bought in dehydrated form (kouya dofu) to be used in these ways, but it’s fun to do it yourself.

Just Hungry and No Recipes have more interesting info and ideas for frozen tofu.

For my little dish here, I began by sauteing sliced red onions with lots of garlic and ginger.

I then added pieces of asparagus.

When it started to turn bright green, I added the aforementioned frozen-then-defrosted tofu, crumbled into a fine texture.

I also dumped in perhaps a teaspoon or two each of sake and rice vinegar.

As the tofu started to warm up, I added sweet soy sauce and sea salt.

Ketjap (or kecap) manis—sweet soy sauce—is something new to us here in Perth. It’s Indonesian in origin, and seems to be quite popular in Asian and general stores alike here. It’s more syrupy than Japanese soy sauce in consistency and is sweetened with palm sugar. Just a drizzle, then, was nice to flavour this dish.

Image

Image

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Tomatillo et al stir fry

October 6, 2012 at 6:35 am · Filed under stir fry, tofu ·Tagged , , ,

Oh, tomatillos, where have you been all my life? I had them for the first time in last year’s CSA baskets, and they’ve returned again a few times this year. The taste is similar to tomatoes, but they’re sweeter, drier, and fleshier. Plus they have the added fun of being neatly packaged in papery husks. A marvelous species indeed.

For this stir fry, Yusuke began by sautéing cubes of firm tofu in olive oil until slightly browned. He removed the tofu from the pan and wiped out the extra oil.

Next, he cooked chopped eggplant in fresh olive oil until cooked.

Next, he added minced garlic and tiny slivers of fresh chili pepper.

The tomatillo was added next.

And finally, powdered kombu dashi (a stock made from seaweed) offered umami. No additional salt was needed.

The original inspiration for this recipe was fish and tomatoes, but tofu worked nicely. On the side, we had miso soup with turnips and their greens.

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Vegetable Fried Quinoa

September 8, 2012 at 5:48 am · Filed under stir fry, tofu ·Tagged , , , , , ,

This is a really old one. For the recipe, see http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/02/vegetable-fried-quinoa.html

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Beet stir fry

August 28, 2012 at 5:23 am · Filed under general soup, stir fry ·Tagged , , ,

I’ve been in beet heaven of late with our CSA baskets. Again, though, sometimes they are more of a radish texture and light orange in colour. Regardless, they are très délicieux. Here, Yusuke combined the beets and greens in a lovely stir fry with abura-age (deep fried tofu sheets. Pronunciation, sort of: ahboorah-ahgay).

He first sauteed the beets in sesame oil and cooked them a fair bit (about 80%). Then he added the age and the beet leaves and stems. The seasoning was: 1 tbsp of mirin, a bit of dashi, and 1 tbsp soy sauce.

The abura-age and beets made the dish subtly sweet.

On the side, we had soup with a Better than Bouillon brand veggie stock (thanks, Mom!): about 2 tsp in 1.5 or so litres of water and a pinch of black pepper. The veggies were:

  • Baby potatoes
  • Fresh sweet carrots
  • Glistening red/purple onions
  • Green leaves of onions

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Tofu and bok choy

July 24, 2012 at 4:05 pm · Filed under stir fry, tofu ·Tagged , ,

This stir fry featured bok choy from our CSA basket, and it was so much more flavourful and firmer than what we get from the store. I love you, dear summer.

The procedure began with bok choy stems sauted in sesame oil. After it was cooked, Yusuke added the remaining bok choy greens and mushrooms.

Next he added some veggie bouillon dissolved in about 100 cc of water (Better than Bouillon brand) along with a tiny bit of sugar.

Cubes of silken tofu followed—careful not to break it!

He let everything simmer before adding katakuriko (Japanese potato starch).

That’s it. As Yusuke says, シンプル is best! (translation…)

On the side, we had miso soup with gorgeous green onions and egg (Yusuke’s favourite).

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Spongy tofu (in a good way)

July 3, 2012 at 6:29 am · Filed under stir fry, tofu ·Tagged , , ,

This is the first time I’ve shown こうやどうふ (koyadofu) on this blog. It’s essentially freeze-dried tofu that can be re-hydrated for use in stir fries, soups, etc. I guess it could be Japanese astronaut food…except I think it’s pretty yummy. I sometimes take it in my lunch since I’m afraid of leaving regular tofu unrefrigerated when I’m at the gym before work. I just add some water and soy sauce or put it in soup. It is indeed spongy, which might turn some people off, but I quite like it.

You can see a picture of it “plain” here.

So for this dish, Yusuke began by soaking the koyadofu in water for about 10-20 seconds, then squeezed out all the water (fun!), and cut it into cubes.

He then boiled chopped snap peas for a few minutes with salt and then drained them.

He added back more water, plus:

  • dashi
  • soy sauce
  • mirin
  • sugar
  • salt

Next came chopped green beans along with the koyadofu.

The next addition was thinly sliced abura-age (deep-fried tofu sheets).

He let everything simmer for a while. Finally, he poured in beaten eggs and let them cook briefly.

The mirin and sugar gave this a lovely sweetish taste balanced by the soy sauce, which the koyadofu soaks right up!

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