After moving from Beijing, one thing I’ve missed most is the array of tofu and soy products available. If you go to a supermarket in China, you’ll find the tofu aisle is as gigantic as the cereal section of a grocery store in the US. Not only can you find various types of tofu, there are also many products to help you create a vegetarian meal with great texture and flavor. For example, tofu noodles, mock meat (pre-seasoned fried tofu), tofu puffs, and thin sheets made of soybeans. Last week I was delighted to find out that our Asian market in Austin is now carrying a few more tofu products. (Seems like they’ve been slowly improving their products and services, since Ranch 99 and H-Mart announced they’re coming to Austin.) I couldn’t wait to stuff my shopping cart with packages of sliced and smoked tofu. I made this sliced tofu salad for dinner, just like my mom always does in summer. My husband devoured a big plate of it and told me that it tastes like China 🙂
What is sliced tofu?
Sliced tofu, or Dou Fu Si (豆腐丝), is cut from thin sheets of tofu. This type of tofu is quite similar to extra firm tofu, but it has a denser texture and contains seasoning. You can get a better idea of sliced tofu if you look at its nutrition facts.
One serving of extra firm tofu (50g) contains 3 grams of fat, 2 grams of carbs, and 6 grams of protein. One serving of sliced tofu (50g) contains 7 grams of fat, 6 grams of carbs, and 18 grams of protein.
You can see that the sliced tofu has almost triple the nutrient density of extra firm tofu.
Sliced tofu usually comes mildly seasoned. The brand I got contains salt, fennel, Sichuan peppercorn, anise, and cassia bark (cinnamon). These tofu slices are like protein noodles and hold their shape very well. We usually use them in salads, soups, and stir fries. You can use the sliced tofu straight from the package. However my mom usually blanches it for a few seconds, to remove the strong soy taste and soften its texture.
How to create your own tofu salad
Tofu salad is the type of dish my mom will toss together without any recipe, with whatever ingredients she has on hand. The recipe below shows the flavor that my family uses most often – a refreshing vinegar-based dressing that brings out the ingredients. If you like a heavier seasoning, you can add a spoonful of homemade chili oil to spice up your salad. Or you can use the sauce from my Dan Dan noodle recipe to make a boldly flavored Dan Dan tofu salad. If you like a nutty sauce, go to my chicken spring roll recipe and use the peanut butter sauce there.
There are limitless ways to add veggies to this salad. The most common ingredients include carrot, cucumber, pepper, and onion. You can also use zucchini, cabbage, summer squash, and radish. I found a great ratio to follow is 4 cups of sliced tofu to 2 cups of sliced veggies of your choice. I cut all the veggies with a knife, but feel free to use a julienne peeler. Again, this sliced tofu salad is designed to be a simple and quick dish. It shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes to put together. And do feel free with play with it and figure out your favorite combo 🙂
More Chinese appetizer & sides
Chinese Style Potato Salad Quick Pickled Watermelon Radish Salad Green Onion Tofu Salad Chinese Cucumber Salad Chinese Spinach Salad with Peanuts
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
