Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (13 page)

Bring enough water to cover the tofu to a boil in a saucepan. Salt it lightly. Use a spoon to scoop up large pieces of the tofu, which will have a texture a little like pannacotta, and transfer them to the water. Simmer very gently for about five minutes to heat through. Meanwhile, prepare your other ingredients.

When the tofu is ready, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to the serving bowl and break up the chunks into smaller pieces. Scatter over all the other ingredients and serve.

FIRM TOFU WITH GREEN BELL PEPPER
QING JIAO DOU FU GAN
青椒豆腐乾

This is one of the easiest and most ubiquitous of Chinese dishes, and one of those served at a perfect lunch I attended in a farmhouse in Zhejiang province. For a more complex flavor, pre-fry the peppers as in the recipe, then sizzle some slices of garlic and ginger in the hot oil before you add the tofu and, later, return the peppers to the wok.

Firm tofu holds its shape when cut and stir-fried. For this recipe you can use plain firm tofu which is white, or spiced tofu which is usually golden. It is also delicious stir-fried with Chinese chives (tap
here
).

4¼ oz (125g) plain or spiced firm tofu

1 green bell pepper (about 5 oz/150g)

2 tbsp cooking oil

A little light soy sauce

Salt

Cut the tofu evenly into bite-sized strips. Discard the pepper stem, membranes and seeds and cut into strips to match the tofu.

Heat a wok over a high flame. Add the pepper and dry-fry until nearly cooked. Set aside.

Return the wok to a high flame. Add the oil, swirl it around, then add the tofu. Stir-fry until hot and tinged with gold, then add the peppers. Stir-fry briefly to reheat the peppers, seasoning with soy sauce and salt to taste.

STIR-FRIED TOFU WITH BLACK BEAN AND CHILLI
XIANG LA DOU FU GAN
香辣豆腐乾

This colorful, sizzly stir-fry is the kind of dish you might find served in a “dry wok” (
gan guo
), a miniature wok over a tabletop burner. The main flavoring is Laoganma black bean sauce, a scintillating relish made in Guizhou from fermented black soy beans, chilli oil and other seasonings that has become popular all over China. The rich, oily black beans are much closer to Sichuanese black beans than the dry-salted kind sold in Cantonese supermarkets. Meat-eaters will find a pork variation of the recipe below.

5 oz (150g) firm tofu (spiced or smoked)

2 garlic cloves

An equivalent amount of ginger

5–10 dried chillies, to taste

¼ red onion

¼ red bell pepper

¼ green bell pepper

⅔ celery stick, de-stringed

2 spring onions

3 tbsp cooking oil

3 tbsp Laoganma black bean sauce

½ tsp whole Sichuan pepper

¼ tsp sugar

Ground white pepper

Light soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

Cut the tofu into 2 in (5cm) strips, each ⅜ in (1cm) thick. Peel and slice the garlic and ginger. Snip the chillies in half with a pair of scissors and discard their seeds as far as possible. Peel the onion and cut lengthways into strips of a similar thickness to the tofu. Cut the peppers and celery into strips of similar dimensions. Cut the spring onions into 2 in (5cm) lengths, keeping the green and white parts separate.

Heat the oil in a seasoned wok over a medium flame. Add the black bean sauce, chillies and Sichuan pepper and stir-fry until wonderfully fragrant. Then add the ginger and garlic and sizzle for a few moments more. Add the onion, peppers, celery and spring onion whites, increase the heat to high and stir-fry until hot and fragrant.

Season with the sugar, a good pinch of pepper and light soy sauce to taste. Add the tofu and continue to stir-fry until it is hot and everything smells delicious, adding the spring onion greens towards the end of the cooking time. Remove from the heat, stir in the sesame oil and serve.

VARIATION

Twice-cooked pork with black bean and chilli

Cut ½ lb (225g) cooked, cooled belly pork (with skin) into thin slices. Heat 1 tbsp cooking oil in a seasoned wok over a medium flame, add the pork, then stir-fry until the slices have curled up and the meat smells delicious. Then follow the recipe above from the second paragraph, sizzling the seasonings in the oil, then adding the vegetables and further seasonings with the addition of ½ tbsp Shaoxing wine. Return the pork and finish with the sesame oil as in the main recipe.

SILKEN TOFU WITH PICKLED MUSTARD GREENS
SUAN CAI DOU HUA
酸菜豆花

This is an unassuming but marvellous dish, a gentle marriage of soothing tofu and delicate pickles in a savory broth. Eat it with a spoon as you curl up on the sofa, or ladle it over your rice and let the white grains soak up its juices, enjoying the contrast of the bright green spring onion with the understated jade-and-ivory of pickles and tofu. At its most basic, made with a vegetarian stock or even water, it’s the epitome of old-fashioned, rustic cooking, although a good chicken stock makes it more luxurious. You can even add chicken slivers, if you want (see the variation below).

1 oz (30g) pickled mustard greens

1½ tbsp cooking oil

1 cup plus 2 tbsp (300ml) chicken or vegetable stock

Salt

Ground white pepper

11 oz (300g) silken tofu

1½ tsp potato flour mixed with 1½ tbsp cold water

2 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens

Cut the pickled greens evenly into slivers.

Heat the oil in a seasoned wok, add the slivered greens and stir-fry briefly until fragrant. Add the stock, bring to a boil and season with salt and white pepper, to taste. Use a spoon to scoop large pieces of the tender tofu into the water. Let it warm gently and absorb the flavors of the stock.

When the tofu has heated through, adjust the seasoning if necessary. Then give the potato flour mixture a stir and, in a couple of stages, add enough of it to thicken the stock to a lustrous gravy (mix it in by pushing the tofu gently with the back of a wok scoop or ladle rather than stirring, so you don’t break it up completely).

Tip into a serving bowl, scatter with the spring onions and serve.

VARIATION

Silken tofu with chicken slivers and pickled mustard greens

Slice the pickled mustard greens as in the main recipe above. Cut one small chicken breast (5 oz/150g) evenly into fine slivers, add a marinade of ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp Shaoxing wine, 1 tsp potato flour, 2 tsp cold water and 1 tsp cooking oil and mix well.

Follow the instructions above to make the main recipe, but don’t scatter the spring onion greens over the dish.

Clean the wok, season and add another 1½ tbsp cooking oil. When hot, add the marinated chicken slivers and stir-fry to separate. When they are just cooked, spoon them on to the prepared tofu dish, add the spring onion greens and serve.

SOUR-AND-HOT SILKEN TOFU
SUAN LA DOU HUA
酸辣豆花

This is one of my favorite Sichuanese dishes, a tender bowlful of slippy tofu dressed in a heart-warming mixture of chilli oil, mellow vinegar and other seasonings, with a crunchy garnish. Chengdu street vendors use similar seasonings to serve their own silken tofu, which they make at home and carry around, still warm from the stove, in a pair of red-and-black wooden barrels suspended from a bamboo shoulder pole. This version of the dish was taught to me by Chef Zhang Xiaozhong of Barshu restaurant. Traditionally, the crisp element of the garnish might be a mixture of deep-fried noodles and deep-fried soy beans, but Bombay mix (a crispy, crunchy Indian snack mix) makes a perfect substitute. This dish is best eaten with a spoon, either on its own or with rice.

Salt

11 oz (300g) silken tofu

1 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar

2 tsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp chicken stock

2 tbsp chilli oil with 1 tbsp of its sediment

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens

½ tsp finely chopped garlic

To serve

1 tbsp finely chopped Sichuan preserved vegetable (
zha cai
)

1 tbsp finely chopped Sichuan preserved vegetable (
zha cai
)

1 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens

Small handful of Bombay mix

Bring to a boil in a saucepan enough water to cover the tofu. Salt it lightly. Use a spoon to scoop large pieces of the tender tofu into the water. Simmer it very gently for about five minutes to heat it through.

While the tofu is warming up, you can prepare your other ingredients. Place them all, except for the garnishes, in the serving bowl with ¼ tsp salt and give the mixture a stir.

When the tofu is ready, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to the serving bowl and break up the chunks into smaller, spoonable pieces. Scatter with the garnishes and serve.