← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 400 g firm (momen) tofu
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 pinch Black pepper
• 3 tbsp potato starch or cornflour
• 2 tbsp Toasted sesame oil
• 150 g shimeji, enoki or shiitake mushrooms, separated or sliced
• ¼ Carrot, cut into fine matchsticks
• 1 tsp Ginger, grated
• 240 ml vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Mirin
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 2 tsp potato starch, mixed with 1 tbsp water
• 1 Spring onion, finely sliced
• shichimi togarashi, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Wrap the tofu in kitchen paper, put a plate on top and press for 10 min. Cut it horizontally into 4 slabs about 1.5 cm thick and pat dry.
2. Season the slabs with salt and pepper and coat them lightly in starch, tapping off the excess.
3. Heat the sesame oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry the tofu for 3–4 min per side until crisp and deep golden. Move to plates.
4. In the same pan, stir-fry the mushrooms and carrot for 2 min. Add the ginger, stock, soy sauce, mirin and sugar and bring to a simmer.
5. Stir the starch slurry, pour it in and stir for 30 seconds until the sauce turns thick and glossy.
6. Spoon the mushroom sauce over the tofu steaks and finish with spring onion and shichimi. Serve with rice.

Tips

• Starch rather than flour gives the crispiest crust and keeps it gluten-free if you use tamari.
• Contains soy and sesame.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook Japanese Cooking 101 Chopstick Chronicles