(Chinese recipes, prepare authentic Chinese food now!)
If you love tofu, I am sure you have your favorite tofu dish–be it Mapo Tofu, claypot tofu, steamed tofu, or fried tofu. While many people think that tofu is tasteless and plain, I love tofu very much. Tofu can be very versatile and delicious, if you know how to pair it with other ingredients. Case-in-point: the home-style tofu dish shown above (just click “Next” or “Back” to view the complete photo set.)
Home-style tofu is a homey dish, an everyday and humble dish. In Chinese, it’s called 家常豆腐. Every family has their own interpretation or recipe of home-style tofu. My home-style tofu is really simple: a block of tofu, some mushrooms (I used canned button mushrooms), ground pork, and shrimp. The sauce is the popular Chinese brown sauce that consists of oyster sauce and soy sauce. It sure doesn’t look as beautiful and tempting as Mapo Tofu, it’s quite tasty nonetheless, and great with steamed white rice…
Here is my recipe for home-style tofu or 家常豆腐. This tofu recipe also kick starts a series of homey dishes that I am going to share with you here on Rasa Malaysia–recipes that are great for everyday meal, and budget-friendly and great for the current tough economy. For now, you can check out my Chinese recipes for a collection popular Chinese recipes.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 block of fresh or boxed tofu (soft or silken)
2 oz. ground pork
6 shrimps
3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 stalk scallions (chopped into small rounds)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
Brown Sauce:
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons water
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
2 dashes white pepper powder
1 teaspoon corn starch
Method:
Cut the tofu into small pieces, pat dry with paper towels. Mix the brown sauce mixture well and set aside.
Heat up a wok and add cooking oil. When the oil is heated, add garlic and stir-fry until light brown. Add in the ground pork and shrimps. Stir-fry to break the ground pork into smaller lumps, then follow by the tofu. Do a quick stir before adding the brown sauce mixture. Gently stir-fry the tofu and bring the sauce to boil. Add the chopped scallions, do a few quick stirs, dish out and serve immediately with steamed white rice.
Cook’s Note:
If you use silken tofu, please be extremely gentle with the tofu when you cut and cook it.
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
There is a restaurant in Tokyo, all they serve is tofu. All dishes are made of tofu but they are so good you won’t know it’s tofu. They also use yuba (tofu skin) to make dumplings, everything is so great. I agree with you, tofu is delicious but you need to know how to cook with other ingredients.
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I love this new gallery, it’s so great to see your photos on the same page. By the way, your home-style tofu looks very homey and and I am sure it’s delicious. My mother has a tofu recipe but she deep-fried it first and then braised with mushrooms and bamboo shoot. I love tofu dishes.
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Hiro - correct, I heard many friends in Tokyo who told me that. Gotta try it out the next time I head out there. Do you know the name of the restaurant?
Caroline - thanks about the gallery. Now, I have to manually change all the gallery on the old post. Lots of work. :(
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Caroline - I think I had tried the home-style tofu dish you mentioned at a Chinese restaurant here. It’s great.
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Definitely a homely dish. My mom does with Chinese black mushroom instead of button ones.
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That tofu looks delicious!
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Beautiful! I love the slideshow of pictures.
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Looks fantastic. I do love tofu, and am trying to cook it at home more.
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Tummythoz - yes, I love the ones with black mushrooms too.
Choc Shavings - thank you!
Helene - thanks, finally I have a solution that fits within the post. :)
Kalyn - it’s a super food, so it’s great to eat more.
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Gorgeous! Can you substitute vodka for the shaoxing wine do you think?
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While I’ve eaten tofu, I have never tried cooking it.
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I’ve just eaten yellow vegetables with tofu tonight…I should have see your blog before ;-) cheers
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How I wish my retirement savings are going the same way as my cholesterol reading (up and up!). The doctor said I can always count on tofu to help “hedge” the cholesterol risk. For me, any tofu is good but not stinky tofu 臭豆腐. Your version of tofu looks like the ever popular tofu dish in Chinatown, the claypot tofu 豆腐煲. But the tofu dish I love best are the one you get in Malaysia, teppan tofu 鉄板豆腐. Yum! I also quite enjoy some Korean tofu houses that’s popping up all over the places now. I believe they use more of the silky tofu 滑豆腐/ 嫩豆腐. For those health buffs, eat more tofu.
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I’m partial to MaPo Tofu, made with turkey instead of pork. The spicier, the better!
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I luv tofu too, esp MaPo Tofu!
I have tried cooking the tofu dish in ur 1st pic b4. ;)
Like ur idea of putting ur copyright sign on that mushroom. ;p
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Lydia - yes, mapo tofu is great. Love it, too. And correct, the spicier the better, and I love the numbing. ;)
Dora - you tried my mapo tofu recipe? That’s great. I hope you liked it. Yeah, I have to start watermarking my pictures…to fend off photo thieves. There are so many out there. :P
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mmm…give me home-cooked food anytime! even plain ol’ tofu is oh so delish
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Beautifully simple yet tasty dish! Must try this soon!
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I recently made this dish and it’s wonderful! Very very light - perfect for summer. Thank you for the recipe!
I have tried your other tofu recipes too - Ma Po Tofu and Steamed Tofu. I really enjoy your blog!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Thank you for the comments and for trying this tofu recipe. Really happy you enjoyed it :)
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Hi the brown sauce recipe is very good but i may have used the wrong soy sauce.
Should I use Light or dark soy please help thank you.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Light soy sauce.
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