Steamed tofu with a savory soy sauce garlic dressing.
As one of the most popular and humble Chinese ingredients, we eat tofu around the year. It is one of the best ingredients for a simple tofu salad in hot summer days or can be used in hot stews and soups in winter. Though it is plain and tasteless itself, the smooth texture and soy aroma still win ours hearts. There are lots of people love the raw taste of tofu. But there are also a large group of haters. Lots of people believe that there is a soy raw taste make tofu not delicious at all. In order to remove the raw taste, tofu is either blanched firstly or steamed firstly. In Mapo tofu, we blanched the tofu in boiling water. Steaming tofu for 6-10 minutes is another commonly used method.
Steaming is another great way of removing the soy bean raw taste. So make sure your dish is served hot.
Cook’s Note
Get your silken tofu out of box without breaking
- Use a small knife and separate the edges of the package. Take a plate and cover it over the package. Turn it over and then cut small holes on the two diagonal corners. Blow some air in, then the package can be removed easily.
- In order to make the tofu enough tasteful, we need to use a large amount of dressing sauce. And please take easy about the calories because we do not eat all of the dressing.
- Soy sauce from different brand may differ in saltness. So you can adjust the salt amount. By the way, the sauce itself should be a slightly over salty since the tofu is tasteless. Don’t be scared by the sodium amount, we do not eat them all.
Ingredients
1 box of sprouted tofu or silken tofu
Sauce
- 2 tbsp. light soy sauce (low sodium)
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tbsp. dried small shrimp (or roasted peanuts)
- 1 tbsp. chopped scallion and coriander (or scallion only)
- 2 fresh Thai pepper (optional), cut into small sections
- 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt (taste your sauce and see how much needed)
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 1/2 tbsp. black vinegar
Steps
Place the tofu in a large plate and then cut the cubes into several 2 cm thick pieces. Silken tofu can be broken very easily, cutting in serving plate can avoid transferring and keep the original shape. You can also choose to steam tofu as a whole box shape. But cutting makes the dish more delicious.
Let the tofu stay in the plate for coupe of minutes, then carefully discard the water released.Set up your steamer and steam the tofu for 6-8 minutes. Transfer out and discard only water in the plate.
Heat oil in a small pot and then drizzle the hot oil on garlic and scallion. Then mix in all the other sauces.
Drizzle the sauce over the steamed tofu and serve the dish hot.
- 1 box of sprouted tofu or silken tofu
- 2 tbsp. light soy sauce , I use low sodium
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 tbsp. dried small shrimp or roasted peanuts
- 1 tbsp. chopped scallion and coriander or scallion only
- 2 fresh Thai pepper optional, cut into small sections
- 1/2 tsp. salt , or to taste
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 1/2 tbsp. black vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves
-
Place the tofu in a large plate and then cut the cubes into several 2 cm thick pieces. Silken tofu can be broken very easily, cutting in serving plate can avoid transferring and keep the original shape. You can also choose to steam tofu as a whole box shape. But cutting makes the dish more delicious.
-
Let the tofu stay in the plate for coupe of minutes, then carefully discard the water released.
-
Set up your steamer and steam the tofu for 6-8 minutes. Transfer out and discard only water in the plate.
-
Heat oil in a small pot and then drizzle the hot oil on garlic and scallion. Then mix in all the other sauces.
-
Drizzle the sauce over the steamed tofu and serve the dish hot.
For the Thai pepper can I just use a regular red pepper? Idk where to get or how to find Thai peppers.
Oceans, if you don’t pursue a hot flavor. You can skip peppers. If you want a spicy flavor, only type of hot pepper works.
Delicious! So simple and quick. I used Pearl River Bridge light soy sauce and no salt, and it turnwd out fine.
Thanks for the feedback, Chu!
Excellent. Turned out perfectly.
Thank you for the feedback!
This was so simple yet delicious, and perfect for a hot summer’s day! I didn’t want to wash another pan, so I just microwaved the oil until it was hot. I forgot the salt and sugar, but it ended up being just right since I used normal-sodium soy sauce, and the oyster sauce itself is sweet. I crushed up the roasted peanuts for even sprinkling. It was excellent cold as well — silken tofu is like a porcelain sponge, it just kept soaking up flavor. Thanks for the recipe!
Love to hear the good news, Vivian!! That sound an interesting cooking experience.
This dish is delicious and so easy to make. Thank you!
Thanks for your feedback, Synthia!
For Americans who don’t know hot peppers, I wonder if they can use hot pepper flakes, which is a very common ingredient in American supermarkets?
Alternately, simply leaving The hot peppers out does not take away from its delicious flavor. It’s just simply a nice component.
It adds a very lovey fresh hot flavor to the dish so don’s skip it. You can use any type with basic hot level or pepper flakes for sure.
This looks scrumptious! Loved the recipe and the photograph!!
The recipe is just brilliant. The flavours are very delicious. Its a simple yet excellent recipe.
Thanks for the feedback!!! Happy cooking!
This came out super delicious.. thanks a ton 👍👍
Thank you for the feedback!! I am so glad to know it is good for me.