This Can't Be Tofu! (11 page)
Read This Can't Be Tofu! Online
Authors: Deborah Madison
Put everything but the tofu in the small bowl of a food processor and process until fairly well blended, about 2 minutes.
Add the tofu, ¼ teaspoon salt, and continue processing, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides, until you have a smooth, green-flecked sauce. Taste for salt and season with pepper. If the sauce is too thick for your purposes, or if it thickens in the refrigerator, thin it by whisking in water as needed.
Cream
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MISO SOUP, THE FIRST DISH TO ARRIVE
at the table in a Japanese restaurant, often comes with tiny cubes of silken tofu, so for many, tofu in soup is already a familiar sight. Here, I’ve included both traditional and new ways of using tofu in this sampler of
soups. While I don’t think it necessarily makes sense to add diced tofu to every soup, in general it does work well in brothy soups seasoned with ginger, soy, lemongrass, coconut milk and other Asian seasonings.
If you wish to incorporate tofu into thicker soups, you’re better off adding it as a puree. For example, the first time I made the peanut
soup
I sautéed the tofu with paprika for color and flavor, but the paprika dissolved, leaving the tofu looking pale, out of place, and frankly unappealing. The second time I pureed the tofu with a portion of the soup, then added it back in, where it disappeared without a trace.
Using this method, you can include tofu in virtually any soup that’s going to be pureed entirely or in part, but it won’t be obvious. Always, when pureed tofu is to be cooked, make sure it’s perfectly smooth before adding it to the soup, so you don’t end up with little gobbets of tofu. You can use any kind of tofu for this, but the softer it is, the easier it will be to achieve silky smoothness.
At the end of this chapter, you will find three vegetable stocks.
with Silken Tofu
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Bring the stock to a simmer. Dice the tofu into ¼- to ½-inch cubes and thinly slice the mushrooms.
Remove 1 cup of the stock and work it into the miso until you have a smooth paste. Add the tofu and shiitakes to the pot. About the time the stock returns to a boil, the tofu will be nearly heated through.
Add the diluted miso to the pot and turn off the heat. Taste for strength, adding more miso or soy sauce, if desired. Serve in bowls, add the scallions and a few drops of chili oil to each.
with Spinach Crowns:
While the stock is simmering, trim the root ends of the spinach, or crowns, as they’re called. The crowns are the base of the plant and are usually thrown away. Rinse them well, set in a bowl of cold water to soak for 15 minutes, in order to loosen any sand, then rinse them again. Add them to the soup with the tofu. They should just have wilted to tenderness by the time the tofu is heated through.
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Basic Vegetable Stock
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Heat the oil in a wide soup pot. Add the onion, carrot, celery, bell peppers, and herbs. Sauté over high heat, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are wilted, browned in places, and there’s a dark film on the bottom of the pot. Add 1 teaspoon salt and stir in the miso.
Add 1 cup of the water and scrape the pan to release the juices and break up the miso. Add the remaining water and soy sauce, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cover the pan. Simmer for 25 minutes. Let cool briefly.
Puree the soup until smooth, then pass through a sieve or food mill to get rid of the pepper skins.
Bring 1 quart water to boil in a skillet or small sauce pan. Add 1 teaspoon salt, then reduce the heat so that the water is barely simmering. Add the tofu, simmer for 2 minutes, then remove. Heat the sesame seeds in a dry skillet until they smell toasty, then remove to a plate.
Serve the soup in individual bowls, add tofu to each, and sprinkle with the sesame seeds and chives. If you have any chive blossoms, scatter a few in each bowl.
About
Miso Soups
Miso, made from fermented soy beans, makes a quick, invigorating soup. If you’re feeling a little under the weather, you may well find this soup doubly comforting. Miso soup is perfect for using the more delicate silken and soft tofus. Handle them gently, carrying them on the edge of a vegetable knife or spatula to the soup so they don’t break. When added to the soup, the tofu will sink, but as it heats through, it will rise to the surface.
Misos vary a great deal in intensity and flavor. A true, aged Hatcho miso is dark and rich, while lighter misos are more delicate and sweet. Some include barley, others are seasoned with ginger, which means you’ll just have to taste as you go, adding more miso or soy sauce or tamari, if needed. For most everyday soups, a dark miso seems to be most popular. The vegetable garnishes are many.
Wakame
seaweed, sliced mushrooms, little spinach leaves, slivered carrots and asparagus, snow peas, and even avocado. If the vegetables you’ve chosen need time to become tender, cook them separately and add them at the end.
As for broth, you can really do quite well using water, which is one of the blessings of miso soup. Or you can introduce more depth by making a simple stock based on kombu, a kind of sea green, or by using daishi no moto, the Japanese stock based on dried bonito, a tunalike fish. The latter can be found in powdered form in Japanese stores and many natural food stores.