3 Yummy Tofu Recipes You Just Have to Try

My French hubby had probably been exposed to not-so-nice tasting tofu in the past so now he swears off tofu every time I dared to suggest having it. But, unsurprisingly, on our last trip back to Malaysia, he rather enjoyed a sizzling dish of tofu at a restaurant near my parents’ place.

So there, as I had mentioned, tofu can be nice dishes to have. And here are THREE of my favourite home-cook dishes that you can try too!

#1 Claypot Sea Cucumber, Leek and Tofu

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 3 sea cucumber, cleaned, pre-soaked and slice to 1 inch thick
• 1 leek, sliced diagonally
• a box of silken tofu, cubed
• 2 shallots, chopped
• ½ thumb of ginger, thinly sliced
• 1 cup of chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon of cooking oil (peanut oil preferable)
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of chinese cooking wine or mirin (japanese cooking wine)
• 1 teaspoon of chinese black vinegar
• 2 teaspoons of cornflour, mixed with ¼ cup of water
• salt to taste

Steps:

1. Heat up a medium-sized claypot or other ceramic pot that you might have, and add in the cooking oil when the pot is relatively hot.
2. When the oil starts “smoking”, add in the shallot, ginger and leek and stir them until the leek starts turning soft.
3. Add in the sea cucumber, oyster sauce and light soy sauce and mix them with the other ingredients.
4. Add in the cooking wine and chinese vinegar and stir for 1 minute.
5. Add in the silken tofu and chicken broth and cover the pot and let it simmer over a slow fire. You may leave a gap to allow the liquid to evaporate.
6. Once the liquid has evaporated to almost half of its original volume, you may add in the cornflour mix to thicken the sauce.
7. This dish is ready to be served when the sauce has thickened and you had added salt to taste.

Garnishing ideas: Roughly chopped chinese parsley or spring onion

TIP: If sea cucumber is not to your liking, you might want to use squid. However, make sure you lessen the amount of chicken broth to around ¾ cup as squid should not be cooked too long as it becomes chewy when overcooked.

#2 Steamed soft tofu with Minced Pork

Ingredients (serves 2):

• A box of silken tofu, laid out whole on a steamable dish that fits into your steamer
• 250g of minced pork
• ½ a thumb of ginger, finely chopped
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• a handful of chinese parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
• Salt to taste

Steps:

1. Get your steamer ready by heating it up.
2. In a mixing bowl, mixed together the minced pork, ginger, shallot, chinese parsley, salt, oyster sauce and light soy sauce
3. Once they are evenly mixed, pour them over the tofu.
4. Spoon over the sesame oil on top of the ingredients.
5. Place your dish into the steamer and let it steam for about 20 minutes, or until the pork is cooked.
6. You may serve this dish with steamed rice.

TIP: If you prefer the minced pork to sit on top of the tofu for a nicer presentation, you can mix in an egg in the mixing bowl, which will help bind it together. Then press the mixed ingredients firmly before placing them on top of the tofu.

#3 Stir Fry Fried Tofu with Mixed Vegetables

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 8 pieces of readily fried tofu, cut into halves
• 4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 8-10 baby corns, sliced vertically into halves
• 1 carrot, sliced into 1-inch-long matchsticks
• 1 green pepper, chopped into edible sizes
• 150 g of fresh prawns, peeled
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of cornflour, mixed with ¼ cup of water
• salt to taste

Steps:

1. Heat up a wok and add in the cooking oil.
2. Add in the garlic and stir until it starts turning brown.
3. Add in the green pepper, carrot and baby corn and stir for 2 minutes.
4. Then add in the fried tofu, prawns and light soy sauce and stir for 1-2 minutes or until the prawns start getting pink/red.
5. Add in the cornflour mix. Once the sauce starts to thicken you may turn off the heat.
6. Add salt to taste before serving.

Hope these tofu dishes will change your mind about nasty-tasting tofus! If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them in the comment boxes below!

Happy trying!

Cover photo: www.chengphotography.com