China: Holiday Tofu

Thomson Yu

Special event/holiday Tofu: China

Tofu, in the eyes of many non-Eastern Asians, is a bland and bitter food. However, in most Chinese or even Korean and Japanese cuisines, tofu is mainly a compliment to the main ingredient such as meat, fish or vegetables. Tofu is often a popular ingredient to add in soups or broths. The Chinese culture heavily regards family and friends. Every Chinese holiday is based on showing our respect to our ancestors or being together with family and friends. That’s why during the holidays, there is always a feast with every family member gathered at the table. The feast always consists of chicken and roasted pork (or maybe a duck) and a couple of other dishes that come from family recipes or tradition. Every family holiday feast differs in the supporting dishes, but every family feast always has chicken and roasted pork. In my family feast, the supporting dishes range from snow beans, pig intestines (I don’t want to know why) and tofu. The supporting dishes are all traditional recipes from the small town where my father and aunt grew up. I can’t describe why I love tofu because it’s just indescribable. Whether it’s because of its ability to compliment anything or its texture where we could play with it, tofu tastes great on its own or combined with other simple ingredients. Don’t trust me? How about you try this simple and extremely easy recipe and find out for yourself why tofu is popular among Eastern Asians and vegetarians.

THE RECIPE

·         Ingredients

§  1 box of tofu (6pieces), cut into 2 pieces each

§  A spoon of oyster sauce

§  Green onions (diced)

§  2-3 spoons of water

·         Procedure

Before cooking, put the tofu pieces onto a dry towel to let it lose excess water. If the tofu has too much water, it will be a bit difficult to deep-fry it as water delays the oil from reaching the tofu and cooking it. The result will be a soggy tofu.

1.      Deep-fry the tofu pieces until it becomes golden brown. When the tofu is golden brown, take it out of the oil and let it stand for a while so it can lose excess oil.

2.      Put the tofu in a separate pan or cooking ware. Then add the green onions, water and oyster sauce. Let the mixture cook for about 5-8minutes and it’s ready to eat.

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