Tofu Tasty is a cookbook that explores different types of tofu and ways to cook with it. It’s written by Bonny Chung, founder of UK food brand Miso Tasty. In Tofu Tasty she embraces her love for Japanese cuisine and her heritage in Chinese and Cantonese cooking.
If you use tofu in your cooking or want to test it out, this cookbook provides a great starting point. She details all the various types of tofu from firm to soft, fermented to dried and explains how to prepare them and what dishes they’re best for. She even has a guide to making your own tofu at home. What follows is 60 Asian inspired recipes using various types of tofu, from starters to mains and even desserts.
As someone who is unfamiliar with cooking with tofu, this cookbook opened my eyes to the possibilities of tofu and why you need to focus on the type of tofu you buy – they are not interchangeable in recipes.
The recipe I’m sharing is her recipe for Hot and Sour soup, a mainstay on Chinese menus. I love broth-based soups especially those that offer multi-dimensional flavors. This hot and sour soup makes use of silken tofu which is soft and needs to be handled with care.
The soup is rich and bold and my experience is that it should be eaten in small quantities – the large amount of soy sauce and vinegar gives it a dressing/sauce-like richness which can feel like too much. I also added noodles – which I highly recommend, as they add a perfect neutral carby element that pairs vert well with taming the richness of the broth.
While this soup is quick to make, it does require preplanning in soaking your dried mushrooms.
Get this cookbook If you love tofu and want to explore new ways of cooking it. Most recipes are vegan, but some do have animal-based proteins like eggs, meat and shellfish.
Tofu Tasty is published by Pavilion and distributed in South Africa by Jonathan Ball Publishers. It is available here.
Ingredients
- 1.5 litres vegetable broth
- 6 large dried shiitake mushrooms soaked for 1-2 hours until fully hydrated, then drained and finely sliced.
- 100 grams bamboo shoots sliced into thin matchsticks (optional)
- ½ cup rice vinegar or to taste
- ¼ cup light soy sauce
- 2 teaspoon caster sugar
- 2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1½-2 teaspoon chilli garlic sauce or to taste
- 2 tablespoon corn flour
- 250 grams silken tofu cut into 1cm cubes
- 2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 large eggs beaten
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 4 spring onions finely sliced
- 1 large chilli deseeded and finely diced
Instructions
- Heat the stock in a saucepan and add the mushrooms, bamboo shoots, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, ginger and chilli garlic sauce. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, then reduce the heat to low.
- In a small bowl, mix the corn flour with 4 tablespoons of water and stir until smooth, then add to the pan. The soup will slowly thicken.
- Add the tofu and sesame oil.
- Swirl the soup so there is some movement in the pan. Drizzle in the eggs from a height to create ribbons, then turn off the heat.
- Add the salt and pepper, then taste; if you want it more sour add rice vinegar, ad if you like it more spicy add in more chilli-garlic sauce. The balance of this dish is down to personal taste.
- Before serving, sprinkle with the spring onions and red chilli.
