Name: Red-braised Bean Curd
Yield: Serves 4 with 2 Other Dishes
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 10 ml (2 tsp) thick or dark soy sauce (or 15 ml/1 tbsp oyster sauce); 5 ml (1 tsp) tapioca or potato flour dissolved in 15 ml (1 tbsp) water; 45–60 ml (3–4 tbsp) mushroom soaking liquid or vegetarian stock; chilli sauce (optional); 1.5 ml (¼ tsp) sugar; 6 medium dried Chinese black mushrooms, reconstituted; vegetable oil for deep-frying; 30 ml (2 tbsp) peanut or vegetable oil; 5 ml (1 tsp) thin or light soy sauce; 15–22.5 ml (1–1½ tbsp) shredded ginger; 50 g (2 oz) drained canned bamboo shoots, shredded into strips then blanched; 1.5 ml (¼ tsp) salt; 4 cakes bean curd, refreshed

Preparation info

Serves
4
with 2 Other Dishes

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Classic Food of China

By Yan-Kit So

Published 1992

About

This is a very popular dish served both in restaurants and at home, and prepared both in a vegetarian or non-vegetarian way. Speaking for myself, whenever I’m asked to choose a bean curd dish from a restaurant menu, more often than not I choose this one, even though I’m fond of all bean curd dishes. What attracts me is the combination of the slightly crisp skin of the bean curd with the meltingly soft centre and the overall effect of the topping made with shredded ginger, mushrooms and bamb