12. Tofu recipe: Tofu with sesame sauce

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Chinese tofu with sesame sauce

Did I mention that I love tofu? :) Probably I haven’t said that I really really love tofu, and all soya bean < products. And since my ‘half-Chinese:))’ husband now loves tofu as much as I  do, tofu dishes have  become our ‘must-have’ food every week. On weekends, after buying vegetables in the market, we always have to have a nice walk towards the Chinese supermarket -- just for buying couple of big portions of tofu. Actually I started making this dish at home because of him. :)

One day, we dinned in a Japanese restaurant, and by chance, we ordered what ‘looked like’ this tofu dish.  After having the first piece, he looked up, and told me with a meaningful tone of voice, ‘I l.o..v..e this tofu.’ With that honest eyes full of appreciation and desire, by instinct, I knew I should understand it as -- I should make the similar ones at home. Ha…. :))

TOFU RECIPE: Chinese tofu in sesame sauce

---- So I made this dish. It is fairly simple, despite having to follow two steps: lightly fry the tofu first; then prepare the sauce.

Lightly fry tofu

Tofu is very easy to break, especially if it is cooked in thin and relatively big pieces like in this dish. The best solution is normally to either light fry it first, or quickly steam it, or boil it in water.

Unless it is very necessary, (for example, having tofu with soy bean paste as salad), I try to avoid boiling or steaming it, because, this way, tofu does get firmer, but it is also difficult for the sauce to seep in, where if it is fried, the tofu will easily absorb the sauce.

What I mean by 'light frying'  is really just frying its very surface, not breaking the cells in deeper layers, so the surface of the tofu stays firmer, and still remains fresh.

Ingredients

Fresh tofu
( Fresh  tofu probably can only be found here in Chinese supermarkets, and they normally come in two types (but in very similar packages): Chinese north-style tofu  or south-style tofu. Southern tofu is slightly softer, otherwise I cannot tell the difference. In this dish I use the Southern tofu.)

Cooking wine, light soy sauce, spring onion, sesame oil, toasted sesame, salt, oil.

Preparation

Slicing the tofu

1)Slice the tofu into around 5cm square, 0.5cm thin pieces.

2)Chop one spring onion into small pieces.

Cooking the tofu

1) Pour oil into a flat sauce pan, just enough to cover the base of the pan.

2) Place tofu pieces into the sauce pan, one piece after another.
3) When the surface of the tofu starts showing…. (how should I put it into words) some signs of getting firmer, for example, you can see it has absorbed oil, even some little dimples  appeared, remove them from the sauce pan, place them nicely into a deep plate.

4) In a heated wok, put 2 tablespoon of oil, chopped spring onion, one teaspoon of cooking wine, 1/3 teaspoon of salt, 1 and half tablespoon of light soy sauce.

5) When the sauce is heating up, turn off the fire, and pour the sauce over well placed tofu in the plate.

6) Pour in couple of teaspoons of sesame oil, and sprinkle toasted sesame over the tofu.

Tofu and sesame sauce

                 ---------- Et voila!







I like the freshness of the tofu in this dish, the sauce has to be very light. It goes well with boiled rice, probably . :))