Tofu

If you’re a tofu fan, chances are you’re always on the lookout for ways to spice it up. This is one of the best. For a meatier texture, use the technique in step 1 of the previous recipe. For a bigger stir-fry, add some vegetables—red bell peppers are nice. Salted black beans are sold in supermarkets and in every Chinese store. They’re almost always soaked before being used.

There are two keys to this salad. The first is buying dry, pressed tofu (bean curd), which is sold at most Asian food markets and some natural food stores. It’s much firmer than regular tofu and has a dense, chewy texture and a brown skin. (If you can’t find it, use extra-firm tofu and press it yourself; see page 491.) The second key is allowing the salad to marinate long enough for the tofu to absorb the dressing. That part’s easy, but it does require advance planning.

This salad is found throughout Southeast Asia. It’s a great dish for entertaining since it must marinate for at least an hour before being served and can sit for a couple of hours after that.

Though you don’t see Pad Thai all that much in Thailand (I was told there that it was “a Chinese dish” and therefore inauthentic), it has become a standard at American Thai restaurants—and for good reason. The combination of sweet, salty, sour, and spicy in a variety of textures is irresistible. There’s nothing difficult about making Pad Thai at home. Just make sure you’ve portioned out all the ingredients before you start cooking and, especially if you’re entertaining, take care of the first two steps before your guests arrive. Information on Asian fish sauces like nam pla is on page 500.

Korean soups like this one are often served in heavy stone pots that keep the soup sizzling hot at the table—in fact, they’re often still boiling when you (attempt to) start to eat them. (In some restaurants they’re served over flames so they continue to boil as you eat them; this is tricky for Westerners.) The pots may be hard to come by unless you can get to a Koreatown in a city like New York or Los Angeles, but this soup is just as good served in an ordinary soup bowl; just preheat the bowl so you can serve it very hot. You can serve this as an entree. In Korea, it would be teamed with Sticky Rice (page 508); spoon some of it right into the hot soup.

Much northern Chinese food is spicy, and this well known soup follows that pattern, deriving its heat from freshly ground pepper (use a lot of it) and its sourness from rice vinegar. Don’t be put off by the long ingredient list: this doesn’t take much time to prepare and is guaranteed to be better than the version served at most Chinese restaurants. Normally, I think thickening with cornstarch is unnecessary, but here it feels appropriate to give the soup its signature thickness; you can eliminate it if you like. Any of the dried ingredients that you can’t get at your supermarket can be found at almost any Chinese market.

A dish that combines the style of Chinese soup noodles with the flavors of Indian curries. This version, made entirely with fresh ingredients, is probably superior to any you’ve had at a restaurant.

I had this as a late-night snack in Japan, but it’s great at breakfast, too, a soothing, homey soup that is also good made with tofu or leftover chicken. Even if you don’t have dashi, you can execute this dish in a half hour or so. You can make fresh rice for this, of course, but if you use leftover rice—which is fine—heat it first; the microwave does a fine job of this. Some Japanese make small individual omelets for each bowl, but others use the easier, if somewhat odd, technique of cooking the egg in the soup, as here.

The only thing this has in common with the familiar European-style cucumber soups is the cucumber. Otherwise the ingredients—from the dashi to the soy sauce—are strictly Asian. This sublimely refreshing soup can be served hot or cold. When chilled, it’s especially good with a few pieces of shrimp added to each bowl.

Like many dishes from India, this one contains a lot of ingredients and requires a fair amount of precooking work but is easy to assemble. If you can find fresh paneer—the simple cheese that appears in many Indian dishes—by all means use it. But tofu makes a great substitute. Serve over rice or as part of a larger Indian meal.

Serve these spicy little pancakes as an appetizer—they’d even work at a cocktail party—or as part of a meal. They’re not especially delicate (in fact they’re pretty filling), and they’re frequently served at room temperature, so feel free to make them in advance.

I learned how to make “summer rolls” in a tiny village in the Mekong Delta. I was not only the only non-Vietnamese at the table; I was also the only male. My pathetic technique was laughable to my co-workers, but I quickly got the hang of it. So will you. Rice paper wrappers, sold in Asian markets, keep forever. Their flexibility is truly amazing, and the simple variation will give you an idea of the different directions in which you can go. This is just a basic outline; these rolls can be filled with infinite variations of vegetables, meat, and even fruit, so don’t worry if you don’t have one or two of the ingredients here. You can cover these with a moist towel or plastic wrap and keep them for about an hour, no longer, before serving.

In this recipe for a popular Chinese dish, an egg is stirred into the simmering soup to form tiny ribbons. For more flavor, add a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil just before serving.

This is a recipe that I first tried out a really long time ago for a friend in high school who had decided to become a vegan. A pie with tofu may sound odd, but silken tofu is very smooth when you blend it, and helps make vegan desserts rich and satisfying without dairy products. Although the texture is a little different than traditional pumpkin pie, the taste is almost exactly the same. The only way to make this better is to find vegan whipped cream to put on top.

I know I continually say that I’m skeptical about tofu, especially something as weird as tofu cream cheese. However, I have to say this vegan cheesecake is actually better than a lot of cheesecakes I’ve had. In fact, it’s so good that when I finished my first piece I went back for a second. Like any cheesecake, it’s great with any kind of fruit on top, especially strawberries.

I have loved pad Thai ever since high school when my friends and I found this great Thai restaurant that we went to every chance we got. I have found that making it at home is a more than satisfactory substitute (and, of course, way cheaper). I like to make it spicier and add a little soy sauce, so start out with the recipe here, and then add your own personal touch—that’s what cooking is all about anyway! You’ll see that the recipe calls for vegetarian fish sauce, which may seem like a funny concept, but you can find it online or at some Asian markets (where you can also pick up the rice noodles).

The secret to this recipe is the second layer of fl our on the tofu. It makes for a nice thick layer of batter that stays crispy even once the barbecue sauce is on it. The tricky part about his recipe is the frying. Even though you only use an inch or two of oil, be sure to use a big, deep pot or pan just in case it splashes, and use a long spoon or spatula, preferably slotted, to turn the onion rings and tofu because it hurts like heck to burn yourself with hot oil. And please don’t be scared off by these tips; frying is really pretty easy as long as you take the proper precautions, and your tastebuds will definitely be happy with the end result!

This Japanese spin on coleslaw is a refreshing salad, and serving it with crispy fried tofu coated with sesame seeds makes for a great, quick dinner. Even though the tofu is fried, you only need a little bit of oil, so it’s still a nice light meal.

I love teriyaki sauce. For me, anything can be made better with teriyaki sauce, which is why I was totally in favor of the tofu in this recipe, much to my sister’s surprise. The tofu soaks up a light teriyaki flavor, but not so much that it becomes overly teriyaki-y. I made that up, but it should be a word.

In our family, this dish is usually made with chicken. Then Megan started trying to convince us that tofu was actually good. I tried it reluctantly, and I was kind of surprised to find that the tofu wasn’t bad (shocking, I know). So even though I’m not a true tofu believer, this is pretty good, especially if you use baked tofu, which holds together when you cut it up much better than regular tofu does.