苔蘑真菌烩豆花 Mixed Mushrooms and Tofu

Pinyin: tāi mó zhēn jūn huì dòu huā

Tofu has been present in many of the dishes here on Kung Fu Eats and nary a day goes by that I don’t eat at least a little tofu. Tofu can be fresh, fried, frozen, sweetened, pickled, dried, and the list goes on and on. In the end though it all boils down to tofu and tofu is quite simply coagulated soy milk.

Tofu manufacturers grind fresh or dried soy beans into a milky pulp to which they then add salts, acids, or enzymes. Through a mixing, heating, and pressing process the soy milk coagulates into a tofu and is further processed depending on the type of tofu being made. Most commonly gypsum is used as a coagulant, that’s right, the same stuff that is used to sheetrock your house is also in your tofu. Other common agents used to coagulate soy milk include a de-icer, a termite controller, and a water hardener.

The dish above tastes great and works well for vegetarians and is an excellent choice on cold days when you need something to warm you up. The silken tofu and mushrooms are boiled together in a stone pot filled with a cornstarch thickened savory broth. One of my favorite ways to eat this is to mix a few spoonfuls in with a bit of rice and making an impromptu porridge of sorts.