Tofu No Nimono Braised Tofu
Emiko Davies
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Serves
4Ingredients
320g firm tofu, cut into thick slices | |
½ onion, sliced | |
2 spring onions or ½ leek cut into 1-2cm diagonal slices | |
steamed rice and your favourite vegetable sides, to serve (optional) | |
SAUCE | |
60ml soy sauce | |
60ml mirin | |
60ml sake | |
2 teaspoons sugar | |
180ml water |
This warming, comforting dish came about one day as I had both leftover sukiyaki sauce and some very fresh tofu and it must be one of the tastiest ways to enjoy tofu – I not-so-secretly love picking out the tofu from the sukiyaki pot. I only had spring onions to add to it (also a favourite element to fish out of the sukiyaki) and I kept thinking you could flesh this out into a bigger dish – by adding a soft-boiled egg, perhaps, or some mushrooms, spinach or bok choy (pak choy). As I ate it, I thought it reminded me of another wonderfully homely dish called nikudofu, where thin strips of beef are braised with the tofu in a similar sauce. But since making it again and again, I really prefer this way whenever I have a craving for sukiyaki but just want to keep things very simple.
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Instructions
1. | Bring the sauce ingredients to a simmer in a small-medium saucepan. |
2. | Gently add the tofu and onion (make sure all the tofu is submerged under the precious liquid; if not, top up with some water until it is) and continue simmering, covered with a lid (or a drop lid, fashioned out of a round of baking paper) for 7–10 minutes, or until the onion is sweet and soft. |
3. | Add the spring onions and cook for a further 3 minutes, or until it has given way and is wilted and tender (if using leek, it will need cooking for longer). |
4. | Serve with freshly steamed rice and two or three other vegetable side dishes for a filling, satisfying vegetarian meal. |
This is an edited extract
from Gohan by Emiko
Davies, published by
Smith Street Books,
distributed by Thames
& Hudson Australia,
NZD$55, available
now. Photography ©
Emiko Davies, Hana
Davies & Yuki Sugiura