9:34 AM
Heather
This is the tofu dish to feed to tofu-haters. Seriously. I've actually gotten the "I'd-rather-die-than-eat-tofu" types of people to eat this. Mostly because they wolf it down before actually knowing what it is. After all, it doesn't scream "I'm made with tofu!" does it? It COULD be mistaken for meat of some sort, after all. If they make the assumption, it's sure as heck not my fault they ate delicious tofu for lunch is it? I don't think so.
I first had iri dofu in Japan when my host mother packed our lunches for school one day. It was jaw-dropping amazing. Most families have their own tweaks for their family recipe, so consider this a starting place. My recipe is totally vegan, but my host mother had a ton of add-ins, so feel free to experiment with this kind of dish.
It's important to either use fried tofu or press your tofu really well for this. I wouldn't be opposed to throwing it into the microwave to get the water out of it. But I'm lucky enough to live in a place where fresh local tofu comes in a variety of flavors, textures, and preparations so I wouldn't know anything about that. But get fried tofu is you can--we want it to get dry pretty quickly and a lot of fried varieties come in great flavors!
This is totally easy. Let's do it! In the name of lunch! Whoo!
Start with dried whole shiitake mushrooms. Whole shiitakes are more expensive, but they also have a much "meatier" texture, so buy them!
I don't know why I have a close-up here. I guess I just like mushrooms. Anyway. Let's soak these suckers.
Throw 'em in a bowl and pour hot water to cover. Please don't burn yourself with the ridiculously hot water like I did. Only idiots do that.
I covered these with a plate and set them aside while I prepared the other ingredients.
Chop up a bunch of green onions and throw 'em in another bowl. Part one of a very holy trinity.
Garlic is part 2 of the holy trinity. Grab a couple cloves, give them a whack and...
Dice them up finely. Can you smell that? I love garlic with every fiber of my being.
The final part of the trinity: ginger. Life is complete now. But you need to chop it up very finely.
Finely is such a vague term. Considering the dullness of my knife, this is a fine chop to me. Yours probably looks better than mine.
Throw it all in the bowl with the green onions. They naturally go together. It's the way it should be.
Back to the shrooms. They're nice and hydrated by now. Not to mention scorching HOT.
I totally burnt myself taking these out, but I couldn't wait. Did I say that I like mushrooms?
A smart person would do this and let the mushrooms cool before trying to chop them up.
Squeeze the excess water out of them. By now you won't burn your hands. Don't get rid of the soaking water! We're going to use it to make the sauce.
Now slice these babies up (including the stems) and then...
Dice them too. This is partly what makes the end result so meaty and delicious. DON'T add this to the bowl with the holy trinity. We cook this second after the aromatics do their thing.
Now for some cooking! I used a cast iron pan and sprayed it first with canola oil spray. Then put in a couple tablespoons of sesame oil. I would show you this, but my picture is blurry. This isn't an SLR camera, friends.
Throw the green onions, garlic and ginger in the pan with the oil over medium low heat. Wait until you can smell it to add the mushrooms.
Then add in the mushrooms. Toss to coat. Cook for a little longer...
Until it looks like this! At this point I turned off the heat so I could deal with the tofu. A smarter person who has more patience and counter space than I do would prepare the tofu before this!
This is Than Son fried tofu. It's made locally in Seattle and it'sincredibly good. This one is green onion flavored with bits of mung bean noodles thrown in.
See that? That's flavor in its best tofu form. If you don't have fried tofu, please press your tofu well to get out most of the liquid.
Now then, either chop of crumble up your tofu. I do a little of both. The crumbling has a better texture than the chopped, I think.
If you do chop it, just squeeze it with your fingers to get a more rugged texture to it. But you don't have to do what I say. Do whatever makes you happy.
Turn the heat back on after adding the tofu, this time to medium high. What we're trying to do here is give the tofu texture and get the remaining water out.
As you cook it, scrape up the bits from the bottom. See the browning? That's what makes this dish NOT taste like a normal tofu dish. We don't want a spongy texture here, we want the tofu to have "bite"
At some point you'll decide enough is enough and that you need to make your sauce. You'll need white miso, soy sauce, mirin or sake, and a few tablespoons of the mushroom soaking water.
Start with a couple tablespoons of miso. Miso is 100% necessary here. It gives it that blessed salty, complex flavor that pairs so well with the rice, that you, of course, are going to serve it with.
I was in a hurry, but throw together the rest of the sauce ingredients and stir until relatively smooth.
By now the residual heat of the cast iron should have your tofu nice and toasty, but not smoking. Here is the place to add in some other stuff if you want. I added peas here, but you could add in whatever you have on hand to make it a complete meal. Heat it all through...
Then add your sauce. Your pan should still be hot so that the sauce sizzles when it hits the cast iron. The tofu and other optional ingredients will absorb the sauce like a sponge.
This is a totally good thing to pack for lunch. My coworkers always think that this is chicken for some reason.
Or if you're not in a lunchbox mood just smother the rice with it and devour. Please make this. It's incredibly good and actually pretty good for you.___________________________________________________________________
The Ingredients
(1 package) fried tofu or 1 lb traditional tofu, pressed
(1-2 bunches) green onions, chopped
(2 cloves) garlic, minced
(1 inch knob) ginger, minced
(5-6 whole) dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked
canola oil spray, as needed
(2-3 Tbsp) sesame oil
(2-3 Tbsp) white miso
(1 Tbsp) GF soy sauce or Braggs
(2-3 tsp) mushroom soaking water
(1-2 Tbsp) sake or mirin
Optional Ingredients (suggestions only)
green peas
carrots
corn
zucchini
cooked squash
cooked baby shrimp
shredded chicken, pork, or beef
The Directions
Soak shiitakes in hot water. Prepare the aromatics by chopping the green onions, garlic, and ginger. Combine and set aside. Meanwhile, dice up the soaked shiitakes, reserving the soaking water. Set aside. Prepare tofu by crumbling or chopping. Set aside.
Heat a cast iron pan on medium low and spray with canola oil or other high heat spray. Pour in the sesame oil and add in the green onion, garlic, and ginger mixture. Heat until you smell it. Add in mushrooms and heat for another 1-2 minutes. Add in tofu and increase heat to medium high.
Cook mixture until tofu is browned and has good texture. Reduce heat and prepare sauce by combining miso, soy sauce, mushroom water, and sake or mirin and whisk until smooth. Add any optional ingredients to the pan and heat through. Add sauce and stir until sauce is absorbed.
Serve over rice.
