Make tofu the Chinese way | The "homestyle tofu"

In China, there is a popular tofu dish almost every family will make at home. It is called "homestyle tofu". The name sounds ambiguous right? In fact, just as there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, there can be a thousand recipes for homestyle tofu for a thousand household. However, there are some rules that can be applied to "homestyle tofu" that make it a distinct species compared to other tofu friends.

• First, the tofu is often sliced into thin squares and deep fried.

• Second, homestyle tofu is a stir-fry dish.

• Third, other than our hero tofu, you may add as much ingredients as you want as long as they do not steal the thunder.

The typical ingredients people mix together with tofu in this dish include ground pork, wood ear, green pepper, red chili pepper, onion, green onion, shiitake mushroom, bean paste, etc.

The recipe presented by me is vegetarian and MSG-free. It uses only a few ingredients, which you may easily get at grocery stores such as Whole Foods or some Asian markets in the US.

How to Make Homestyle Tofu?

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 30 mins

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box of firm tofu

• 2 shoots of green onion

• 3 pieces of shiitake mushrooms

• 2 tablespoon of soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce (if you like gluten and MSG free, recommend the Lee Kum Kee green bottle)

• 1 tablespoon of sugar or half a packet of splenda

• 1 table spoon of cooking wine

• a pinch of salt and pepper if needed

• 50ml of water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Slice tofu into 1.6"*1.6"squares with 0.2" thickness; thin slice the shiitake mushrooms; slice green onion into the diamond shape.

2. Deep fry the tofu squares till they turn gold brown both sides. It usually takes 10-12 minutes.

3. Prepare a new pan on high heat, sprinkle some canola or vegetable oil, add the white part of green onion and shiitake mushroom slices, and still fry for about 1 minute. Leave the green part of green onion aside for later use.

4. Turn to low heat, add soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, and water, and let the sauce simmer for about 1 minute.

5. Add the deep fried tofu, salt, and cooking wine. Make sure all tofu slices are evenly wrapped with the sauce. Let it simmer on low heat for another 5 minutes till the sauce thickens.

6. Add the green part of green onion and serve on a plate.

It is that easy, isn't it? Within 30 minutes, you can get an authentic taste of Chinese homestyle dish. The savory sauce is a great balance to the bland flavor of tofu. Once deep fried, the skin of tofu is no longe slippery and is well suited to grab the sauce. The soft and chewy texture of shiitake mushroom is a perfect add-on to tofu itself. I can assure you even a non-tofu lover would love this dish.

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Recipe by Bing Sheng of Theory of Food. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.