Ingredient Spotlight: Koya-Dofu
In a few days I’ll be making some chirashi zushi, which I’ve made in the past but am trying now with different ingredients — the recipe comes from the owner of Kikunoi, and it calls for Koya-Dofu, which I’ve never tried before. It’s basically freeze-dried tofu, which looks like one of those expanding sponges. The monks at Mount Koya developed the technique of freezing the tofu to dehydrate it, producing a block lighter than these floral foams. (A different view of its history is recounted here.) A.k.a. kori-dofu or shimi-dofu, it’s a shelf-stable product so you can keep it in stock and pull it out for emergencies. Simmer it in some stock flavored with konbu, maybe a bit of soy sauce, and you’ve got yourself a healthy soup!
Here are instructions for rehydrating it properly.
What else to use it for?
Here’s an idea, Minced Chicken Balls and Koya-Dofu Simmered in Dashi, from Kikkoman.
From Cooking with Chopsticks, a recipe for Koya-dofu and Wakame Miso Soup.
Tags: freeze-dried-tofu, Ingredient Spotlight, Japanese, Japanese-cuisine, kori-dofu, koya-dofu, shimi-dofuRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Ingredient Spotlight, Japanese
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