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Bernice Chan

When chef Hideaki Sato was a child in Nagano, Japan, he was fed tofu accompanied by various vegetable condiments, such as myoga or Japanese ginger, shiso leaves, chives, ginger and leeks that were picked from the family garden.
“But I was a picky eater as a kid and I didn’t like these strongly flavoured vegetables. So I always took them out,” he recalls, and ate the tofu plain. “When I was a kid, I preferred hard tofu [momen], but came to like soft tofu [kinugoshi] as I grew older.”
These days, the chef says that after a long day cooking at his three Michelin-starred restaurant Ta Vie in Hong Kong, he and his wife are happy eating a simple meal of yuba, or tofu skin, with soy sauce mixed with wasabi.

For many like Sato who enjoy eating tofu, it’s the simplicity of this protein and its flexibility that appeals, as it can be eaten cold, steamed, pan-fried, deep-fried, air-fried, roasted, simmered and braised.
Originally from China, tofu is rich in protein, calcium, manganese, iron and vitamin B5, and has relatively fewer calories than other protein-rich ingredients. Previously there were concerns that tofu contains plant oestrogen and consuming too much could lead to breast cancer, but studies have shown that tofu doesn’t have enough oestrogen to do so, and in fact could possibly prevent it. Other benefits of eating tofu include lowering cholesterol, lowering the risk of heart disease, maintaining bone strength and lowering the chances of prostate cancer in men.
Peter Joe, CEO of Sunrise Soya Foods, says tofu has been part of his diet since he was a child – his father started the Vancouver-based company in 1956. Products include not only blocks of tofu, but also dried tofu, tofu puffs and tofu fa, or tofu pudding.

Although Joe humbly says he isn’t much of a cook, perhaps the easiest way to eat tofu is removing it from the packaging, adding some water to soy sauce and drizzling it on top of the tofu block with chopped spring onions.
His own preference is adding century eggs, or alkalised eggs, which can be an acquired taste. “Maybe tofu is a bit of a mystery with how it’s made, but if people drink soy milk, that’s the base for making tofu, and no different than dairy. Cow’s milk is used to make cheese, so it’s the same kind of a process,” he says.
The tofu is made by soaking dried soy beans overnight and then putting them in a grinder that creates a paste or slurry that is steamed. Next, the slurry is put into an extractor to remove the soy bean pulp, which results in soy bean milk. A coagulant is added to the soy milk to make curds – either calcium sulphate to produce soft, silken tofu, or magnesium chloride for firmer tofu.

Then the curds are broken up and poured into a forming box with a porous cloth so that when the curds are pressed together, the water seeps out to form tofu.
In Joe’s experience, Asians prefer soft tofu for homestyle dishes, while others gravitate towards firmer tofu. “They find it easier to handle when they take out a package with less moisture, less water to work with, and they can incorporate it into their recipes, like making pasta sauce, lasagne or chilli, or even blending it and making a dip,” he says.
The company’s website has numerous recipes, including tofu and veggie kebabs, crispy honey garlic air-fryer tofu puffs, popcorn tofu nuggets, Korean-fried tofu tacos and tofu shawarma.

At Cofu Chinatown in Vancouver, chef Akiko Gulkison uses various kinds of tofu in her restaurant, which serves vegan omakase. “I love koyadofu because it is high in protein and low in fat,” she says of the freeze-dried tofu that removes almost all of the water.
As one of her appetisers, she rehydrates koyadofu in vegetable dashi, and adds citrus oil for brightness. Gulkison also uses Sunrise Soya Foods’ soy milk to make a silky soft chawanmushi without eggs, by adding nigari, a natural coagulant to make it firm, and a bit of sugar, before steaming it with irizake, or reduced sake with Japanese plum.
At home, the chef, who became fully vegan a year ago, prepares tofu in curries, and also pan-fries and air-fries it for her children. She says the Japanese like to eat oboro tofu, which are silken tofu curds that have an almost creamy, custard texture seasoned with soy sauce or ponzu. “It’s like chawanmushi but very soft,” Gulkison says. She likes to eat oboro tofu in a clear broth seasoned with kelp and shiitake mushrooms.

There are also many ways to use extra firm tofu to mimic meat. One is by crumbling it and adding it to dumplings, or forming it into patties for burgers. Another is by grating the firm tofu so it has the texture of shredded meat, and stir-frying it with garlic and spring onions, and then adding a sauce that includes soy sauce, sesame oil, Chinese black vinegar, sugar and gochugaru, or Korean chilli flakes.
Silken tofu can also be a great substitute for eggs and dairy in desserts like cakes, pies, cheesecakes, puddings and even ice cream when blended with some soy milk.
In Hong Kong, The Chinese Library in Tai Kwun elevates the tofu on its menu by using the show-stopping Chrysanthemum Thousand Cut silken tofu in chicken broth. With a sharp chopper, executive chef Junno Li transforms a block of soft tofu into a chrysanthemum flower in minutes with amazingly thin cuts. He then shapes it into a circle and rinses it in a bowl of water before placing the tofu with long undulating petals in another bowl filled with flavourful chicken broth. It’s almost too pretty to eat.

Meanwhile, a relatively easy homestyle Sichuan dish is mapo tofu, where cubes of soft tofu are simmered in a spicy concoction of minced pork, ginger, garlic, fresh and dried red chillies, Sichuan peppercorns and doubanjiang or spicy bean sauce.
At Mott 32, group executive chef Lee Man-sing takes the dish up a notch with silky tofu and by switching fresh lobster for the minced pork. It is one of the restaurant’s signatures, available at their locations worldwide.
However, sometimes simple is best. Chef Sato of Ta Vie says he likes eating agedashi tofu, yudofu that is cooked in a hotpot, and yakidofu in sukiyaki. “But to me, the best way is just cold tofu with fresh vegetable condiments straight from the garden. I didn’t like it [as a kid], but now I really love it,” he says.


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Tofu is healthy and versatile, say chefs at Hong Kong eateries Ta Vie, The Chinese Library and Mott 32, and Vancouver’s Cofu Chinatown


Tofu is healthy and versatile, say chefs at Hong Kong eateries Ta Vie, The Chinese Library and Mott 32, and Vancouver’s Cofu Chinatown.


The many types of tofu: discovering the versatile Chinese and Japanese staple

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Tofu is healthy and versatile, say chefs at Hong Kong eateries Ta Vie, The Chinese Library and Mott 32, and Vancouver’s Cofu Chinatown

Tofu is healthy and versatile, say chefs at Hong Kong eateries Ta Vie, The Chinese Library and Mott 32, and Vancouver’s Cofu Chinatown