Homestyle tofu, cooked in easiest ways but presents the greatest flavors using very basic seasonings and ingredients.
I am big fan of the fabulous ingredient tofu as other Chinese people. It is humble, plain and can partner with other seasonings and ingredients to create the most delicious flavors. Take this homestyle tofu and Mapo tofu as the most convincing examples.
Homestyle cooking (家常烧法）is a very popular Sichuan style cooking method, usually include some of the most famous Sichuan seasonings like doubanjiang, soy sauce and sometimes fermented black beans. We love this very much because it is very simple, require no expensive ingredients and fancy cooking skill.
Many think that tofu is plain and tasteless. Then in my opinion, tofu is one of the most delicious foods as long as it is cooked properly. Since it is quite plain itself, tofu has the ability of absorbing the flavors and seasonings and turn itself into something extremely delicious. How to achieve this? In generally, we get two ways. The first is to wrap the flavors using starch water, just like Mapo tofu. Tofu get smooth surface and it is quite hard for the seasonings to attach. Starch water can help the seasonings and flavors wrapping on tofu cubes. The second way is to spoil the smooth surface of tofu by pan-frying or deep-frying, even freezing. After certain process, tofu skin gets waves and small holes. In this post, we use the second way.
When the tofu is pan-fried, you can slightly seasoning with salt and pepper to keep it crispy texture. Or continue stewing with seasonings in the following.
But if you do have some wood ear mushroom, keep along with it. Besides, tofu has different varieties and textures. If you want to know more, check my post tofu. And the tofu used today is regular tofu. I do not recommend soft tofu since we need to pan fry it firstly and I just do not want it to be easy to break.
And this is a vegan homestyle tofu, if meat is our prefer, then we can add ground pork or beef.
Instructions
Prepare another clean pan, add oil and then slow down the fire, add doubanjiang and fry until the oil turns red. Place ginger, garlic and chopped scallions in to stir-fry for around 1 minute.
Place carrots and pepper in. Fry until soft, then add sugar, light soy sauce, cooking wine. Simmer for a while. Return the tofu slices and mix well.
- 1 block regular tofu
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 cup carrots chopped
- 1 green chili pepper chopped
- 3 cloves garlic , chopped
- 2 ginger slices
- 1 scallions white part only , chopped into rounds
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon cooking wine
- ½ tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoon doubanjiang
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Drain the block of tofu and cut them into thick strips about 10 cm long and 3 cm width.
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Heat up some oil in pan, and put the tofu in until one side is golden. Turn over to make the other side become golden too. Then move out.
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Add oil and doubanjiang and fry until the oil turns red over slow fire, then place garlic, ginger and spring onion white, cook until aromatic.
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Add carrots and green pepper in to fry for 2 minute, place sugar, light soy sauce and cooking wine. Then return the fried tofu.
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Give a gentle stir and mix everything well. Serve immediately.
I love this vegan version of home style tofu. Be free to add other meat ingredients if necessary.
I’d really like to make this tonight but need to know if doubanjiang is something I can purchase at a grocery store? Is there a substitute?
I love your site!
Doubanjiang should be available at grocery stores or you can order it from amazon. If you really cannot find it, you can skip or substitute with other chili paste for a spicy taste.
What type of green chili pepper do you use?
In most of my daily cooking, I use shishito peppers.
Would a serrano pepper work well for this homestyle tofu recipe?
I guess yes.