Friday, September 23, 2005

Tofu Steak


Tofu Steak with Bean Sprouts

Here’s another Japanese dish that can be a vegetarian dish if the butter was replaced with something else. I highly doubt if this can be called “authentic,” but I like it anyway. I came up with this recipe many years ago, first being inspired by a few Japanese women I met in the U.S. and later giving it a few twists of my own.

Tofu Steak with Bean Sprouts

Ingredients (1 serving)
1/2 tofu (=150 to 170 g)
a clove of garlic
a little bean sprouts
some flour for coating
butter or veg. oil or sesame oil for frying
minced scallion for garnish
Sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sake
1 to 1.5 teasp sugar
1 to 2 teasp mirin
(dash of instant dashi powder…optional)

Wash bean sprouts and drain. Slice garlic. Slice tofu into 3 to 4 pieces and roll in flour to coat. Mix sugar and all liquid ingredients in a bowl. Heat butter (or veg. oil) in a frying pan and sauté garlic slices. Add tofu slices and fry both sides until golden brown. Transfer tofu to a plate.

DO NOT WASH THE FRYING PAN YET! Add bean sprouts to the same frying pan to sauté over mid-high heat only briefly. Pour in the liquid ingredients mixture. Heat until the sauce is hot and pour the sprout-sauce mixture all over the tofu. Garnish with minced scallion. Serve hot.

When you eat, make sure to put a little bean sprouts and garlic slices in your mouth with tofu. IMHO, the harmony of those three is what’s great about this tofu steak. BTW, I like using silken tofu for this dish.

A nice thing to accompany the main dish would be a bowl of:

You guessed right. I couldn't use up the tofu and bean sprouts. LOL

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

excellent quick weeknight homemade dinner.

Obachan, thanks to your inspiration I am forming a japanese cooking club around Washington DC. So far there have been some very enthusiastic interests from both japanese natives and americans.

we are going to cook foods that you can do easily at home. keep these recipes coming! we are going to troll the local japanese supermarkets for ingredients!

obachan said...

Oh, really? What an exciting news! My blog inspired someone to form a cooking club?! I’m soooooooo happy to hear that. I’ll try to post Japanese recipes once in a while, though my recipes may not well represent Japanese cooking ;P Well, at least they might give you inspirations, right? Anyway, have fun cooking! :D

Anonymous said...

obachan, this sounds like a really yummy but easy to prepare recipe. I love the addition of adding beansprouts for sweetness and crunch. This dish would go very nicely with rice. Thanks for sharing! :)

Anonymous said...

I love tofu! :) I can eat it anyway it comes and still be happy. That dish looks really good; my mom does a similar dish, and I love it. Sometimes, we use chicken mince instead of beansprouts, and for the non vegetarian, it's divine!

Anonymous said...

This looks yummy...I never would of though to use silken tofu in a dish like this, but I'd like to try it! Thanks for your comment on my site, I'm glad it led me to yours!

obachan said...

Julia
Yeah, I think the bean sprouts add an interesting flavor. When I tried this tofu steak with the sauce and garlic slices only, the tofu tasted a bit tasteless inside, so I experimented with this and that, and liked the addition of bean sprouts the best.

Jme
Hmm…chicken mince sounds good, too. I guess I’ve tried it with boiled tofu before.

crystal
Hi! Thanks for visiting. The silken tofu we have here may be a little different from yours, but if yours is moriyu silken, it might be easier to handle than the one I used this time. To tell you the truth, I broke one of the 4 pieces when I was turning it over. I hid the broken part with the bean sprouts. ;P

obachan said...

Hi glutton rabbit,
Wow, you have agedashi dofu over there? We usually don’t use a sauce this sweet for agedashi dofu around here, but maybe it’s not a bad idea… BTW, I like tofu-and- beansprouts combination most of the time, but not very much in miso soup. I made this miso soup just because I didn’t want to waste the tofu and sprouts, but it’s definitely not my favorite kind of miso soup.

Anonymous said...

Hey.. Obachan,
these are my two very favourite thingie..! tofu and bean sprouts..! will try them out soon.. :) thanks..!

obachan said...

Hope you like this, Big Bok ;)

KT121 said...

Hi obachan,

My first visit to your page...what a yummy blog!Great photos,too.

I shall try this tofu steak myself.
Will be back for more ideas!

obachan said...

Hi KT121,
Welcome to my site and thanks for your nice comment. Hope you come visit often :)

Anonymous said...

Obachan,
I tried the tofu tonight and it was a hit!
I used a very heavy skillet iron, and lot of oil. Basically it was a no brainer. It was delicious.

Joanna

obachan said...

You liked it? Oh I'm so glad! Yep, it's darn easy and tastes good. That's why I like it.