Frozen tofu -- a real surprise

Freezing is an interesting technology. We are familiar with frozen vegetable and fruit, but what about tofu? Try it, I am pretty sure that everybody will be surprised. It is not the tofu we know any more. It turns spongy and tastes so different, amazingly juicy.

To make this frozen tofu, the ideal type is firm or extra firm. It is strongly recommended to fully remove the water before freezing tofu, otherwise, it will take very long time to defrost. An easy way to remove water is pinking some holes with toothpick on the top of the package, so that the package won't be damaged too much and can be put into the freezer as soon as possible. This can prevent tofu from being contaminated.

Frozen tofu is a very good ingredient in soup. Tonight, our comfort dinner is chicken broth with frozen tofu and mushroom.

Mapo Tofu

This is hot, very very hot!

Preparation:

(1) Add some vegetable oil in ground pork, blend them well;

(2) Chop green onion (or scallion);

(3) Dice medium-firm tofu into 1-2 cm small cubes;

(4) In a small bowl, whisk 2 tbsp tapioca starch into 1/4 cup water;

(5) Finely mince dry red pepper;

Directions:

(1) Heat wok or skillet under medium-high;

(2) Add some oil, and sauté minced dry red pepper until aroma develops;

(3) Stir ground pork into the wok and break up lumps;

(4) Add tofu dices, blend well;

(5) Add water (or broth); the level of water is just over tofu;

(6) Cover and cook under medium power for 5 minutes;

(7) Increase power to high, stir in starch solution;

(8) After the sauce is condensed, stir in chopped green onion or scallion and sprinkle salt and ground Sichuan pepper for taste;

(9) Serve with white rice.

Soup with tofu and egg

This soup, which is different from "egg drop soup", looks creamy, smooth and tastes pretty good. In such a cold winter, it is an ideal comfort food.

Ingredients (for two serves):

Soft / silken tofu, thinly shredded; green part of green onion, chopped; 2 whole egg, cracked to a bowl, not beaten; 1 2/3 cup chicken stock / broth; 1/3 cup water with 2 tbsp tapioca starch; salt and white pepper for taste

Directions:

(1) Bring chicken stock / broth to boil, gently stir in tofu;

(2) Bring to boil again, stir in starch solution;

(3) Bring to fully boil, with chopsticks or wooden spoon, stir vigorously while pouring whole eggs directly and slowly into the soup (fixing in one position only, not spread over the soup, so that any portion of egg can be scrambled once it dropped into hot soup and prevent from aggregation);

(4) Sprinkle green onion, salt and pepper, serve immediately.