Hiyayakko : Japanese Cold Tofu Salad

There, I said I would feature a tofu dish and I have. This is a lovely summery meal but somehow I feel as though I have cheated a little because this recipe is so simple it’s hardly a recipe at all. Personally, I am not a tofu eating kinda gal but this was so yummy, I actually ate half the block of tofu. Am aware that I have probably used the wrong sort of tofu here. Usually the delicate silken tofu is used in cold tofu dishes but like I said, here in the Netherlands it isn’t always easy or convenient to obtain the right Asian ingredients unless you specifically make the trip to Chinatown. Couple of years ago when we were renting a place in the Red Light District of Amsterdam, Asian cooking was a bit more convenient coz Chinatown was a mere walking distance from our doorstep.

Firmer tofu is usually used for pan-frying or steaming … but this works I guess. On hot days I think this dish would work well as an accompaniment to cold buckwheat noodles or a simple cucumber salad, iced green tea on the side. Ingredient wise there isn’t too many things on there. Block of tofu, soy sauce, sesame oil, grated ginger, spring onions, fried shallots … and for a personal twist, I added a smidge of oyster sauce to the mix.

Ingredients: 

• 8 oz block of silken tofu
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• grated fresh ginger
• finely chopped green onion
• fried shallots

Cut the tofu into bite sized cubes, pile them up in a bowl or arrange them neatly in a row. Then mix the soy sauce, grated ginger, sesame oil and oyster sauce in a bowl. Pour the sauce over the tofu and top with green onions and fried shallots. Voila!! See how easy that was? Toppings for the tofu is always a personal choice … some would prefer to have bonito flakes, or finely shredded nori, daikon radish and so on.

This dish is super healthy and very nutritious, easily digested and can save you the hassle of cooking on days when you just cannot be bothered. If you want to bulk up this dish, apart from the buckwheat (soba) noodles I mentioned earlier, you can always consider flash boiled baby bok choy, collard greens, mustard greens or spinach stir-fried in garlic.

Well I hope you guys enjoyed this recipe and let me know how you get on.

~ Enjoy! ~