Beancurd Dishes

Of all vegetarian foods, beancurd is the most versatile and important in oriental cookery. High in protein but low in cholesterol, plain but absorbent, soft-textured but strong, it is nutritious and receptive to all types of cooking. Beancurd can be boiled, simmered, steamed, braised, deep-fried, pan-fried or used as a filling. Adding substance without an intrusive taste, it combines well with all foods. Moreover, it is quite inexpensive. In fact, beancurd represents such a good buy that the slang expression in eastern Chinese dialects for easily taking advantage of a person is ‘eating beancurd’. It is known as doufu in Chinese or tofu in Japanese. The many techniques and combinations for cooking beancurd are represented in this chapter. It can be simply simmered as in Beancurd Custard in Soy Sauce, or deep-fried as in Crispy Beancurd Cubes with Peanut Dipping Sauce, or braised in a Southeast Asian-style sauce as in Coconut-Stewed Beancurd and Vegetables. Tasting beancurd in so many different forms will persuade even the most sceptical of its wonderful properties.