Wednesday, September 27

Red cooked Tofu

Red cooking - or simmering in dark soy sauce - ia a classic cooking method for pork or poultry in chinese cuisine. If you use the method on tofu, you'll get a side dish with a beautiful blend of flavours. Be sure you drain the tofu well. This will take some time, but it's important for the recipe to turn out well and definitely worth the effort.

serves 4

ingredients:
225 g tofu
5 scallions, diagonally cut into rings, white and green parts divided
2 slices of cooked ham, diced
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp starch

for the marinade:
3 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp sake
2 tsp sugar
1 clove of garlic
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger or 1 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp szechuan pepper, grated
one pinch hot chili flakes

1. Pat tofu dry, cut into thick slices of about 1 cm, wrap into kitchen paper and drain for 30 minutes. Mix ingredients for the marinade in a bowl. Cut tofu into cubes and pour marinade over, coating each cube well. Set aside. After 30 minutes take tofu out of the marinade and place into a clean dry dish. Add 4-5 Tbsp water and the starch to the marinade, mix well and set aside.

2. Heat a non stick pan or wok over medium heat, pour in oil and distibute well, place tofu into the hot oil and fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring carefully. Take tofu out of the pan and set aside.

3. Place the white parts of the scallions into the pan and cook 2-3 minutes, stirring. Add marinade, simmer for 1 minute until it thickens, add ham and green parts of scallions, simmer for another 1-2 minutes. Serve hot.

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