Iri dofu

Posted by Diana van Eyk on February 15th, 2011

I found this delicious looking recipe on the justbento.com website, where it is said to be “a simple, homely dish — real Japanese

photo: flickr.com

style ‘mother’s cooking’.” There seem to be as many variations as there are Japanese home cooks, but the base is plain tofu that is crumbled and then gently stir fried until it resembles dry scrambled egg.

The best way to eat this is to simply pile it onto rice.

This recipe makes about 3 cups.  A 1/2 cup serving is around 150 calories.

Ingredients

• 1 large block of firm tofu (450g /1lb)
• 1 1/2 C. of chopped garlic chives or green onions
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped – only if you’re using green onions and not garlic chives
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water
• 1 tsp. finely chopped fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp. sesame oil
• 2 tbsp. mild white miso
• 1 tpbs. soy sauce
• 1/3 tsp. salt
• Sansho (Sichuan) or black pepper

At least an hour ahead or the night before, soak the shiitake mushrooms in water.

Cut the stems off the shiitake mushrooms and cut up the caps into small cubes.

Drain the tofu.

Heat up a large frying pan with the sesame oil. Add the chopped vegetables and sauté briefly.

Lower the heat to medium. Add the tofu, crumbling it with your hands. Sprinkle with the salt, which also helps to draw out the moisture from the tofu. Stir and crumble the tofu with your spatula as you stir it around. The tofu should start to resemble dry scrambled eggs.

While the tofu cooks, combine the miso, soy sauce and about 4 tbsp. or so of the mushroom soaking liquid, to make a smooth paste. Add to the pan and continue stirring until the liquid is completely absorbed and the pan is dry. Finish off with a little ground sansho pepper or black pepper.

If you want, you can add chopped vegetables such as carrots, peppers, asparagus, green beans, peas and corn.  You can also add chopped nuts such as walnuts, cashews and pine nuts, and they should be added early and toasted along with the tofu.