Home Meal Ideas: Tofu Three Ways… Asian Mom Style
Tofu. It’s pale, it’s jiggly, it tastes lightly of soybean and you can not for the life of you figure out how to cook it other than to bake them in thick slices as a vegetarian meat substitute.
As someone who has grown up eating soybean in all its variations — from stiff marinated slices of dried bean curd, to translucent thin sheets of bean curd stir fried with vegetables, to chewy knots braised with seaweed and pork, to raw tofu served with century-old egg and soy sauce — I can personally attest to the bean’s severely underrated versatility.
If you want your hand at utilizing bean curd to its fullest potential in the kitchen, tofu is without a doubt the best and easiest place to start. Below are three recipe ideas for you to get started. Forgive the lack of measurements; here’s a chance to practice the skill of “eyeballing.”
Ingredients
Tofu MeatballsDirections
Tofu Meatballs
- Mix ground pork with egg, a handful of scallions and leeks. Add in tofu. Add in enough corn starch so the mixture stiffens a bit and can be pressed into a cohesive mass without falling apart. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Form into balls about the size of a third of a fist.
- Heat a well-oiled pan at medium high heat.
- Place in meatballs with about an inch or two of space between each meatball. Let sit.
- Fry until the bottom is nice and golden brown. Flip all meatballs over.
- Add in enough soy sauce to very thinly cover the bottom of the pan.
- Turn the heat down to medium, cover with a lid, and let sit for at least 5 minutes.
- Remove lid. Check for done-ness by breaking apart a meatball so that the insides are no longer pink, if so, let cook for a few minutes more.
- Stir around with soy sauce and serve while hot.
Spicy Peanut, Tofu, and Pork Stir Fry
- Over medium high heat in a well oiled pan, toast peanuts with szechuan peppers and peppercorns. Be careful with the peppers if you are averse to spicy-ness. I’d recommend four to five pepper slices for a fist’s worth of peanuts.
- Cook until fragrant.
- Add in ginger, garlic, scallions.
- Add in pork, and cook until golden brown.
- Add in tofu. Add in soy sauce and sugar to taste.
- Cook until the soy sauce thickens slightly and the tofu has become a rich brown.
- Serve while hot. (Recommended to eat with rice) Vegetable Egg Drop Tofu Soup (to balance out the not-so-healthy recipe above this)
Vegetable Egg Drop Tofu Soup (to balance out the not-so-healthy recipe above this)
- In a lightly oiled pot over medium heat, add in scallions, baby bok choy, tomato, and tofu.
- Stir fry until bok choy is slightly wilted.
- Add in water or chicken stock until all the vegetables are completely covered.
- Turn heat on high and wait until the water boils.
- Crack whole eggs into a bowl and mix until smooth.
- While water is boiling, stir in egg mix vigorously to break up the egg into fine shreds. Turn heat off.
- Add in salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve soup while hot (recommended to eat with noodles in your soup!)