Try something new: tofu and soybeans

My grandparents raised my father and his six siblings in the hub of Hanford’s Chinatown neighborhood that surrounded China Alley. Their five-room home sat at 64 Visalia St., which was located at the northeast end of where the United Market parking lot ends. Within their one-third of an acre, except for a small plot designated as “playground,” every square inch of usable space was devoted to my grandmother’s vegetable garden and livestock — she raised chickens and ducks.

My grandmother supplied the necessary provisions to my great-grandfather’s noodle house and eventually for my grandfather’s Chinese Pagoda from her carefully nurtured chickens and ducks and lush vegetable garden. Depending upon the seasons, my grandmother grew a variety a vegetables — from wintermelon and taro root to “ong choy” and snow peas, along with dozens of seasonal vegetables. She prepared her own soy sauce and grew water chestnuts. And grandmother made her own tofu.

t is her tofu-making that intrigues me these days. The soybean has been a basic food source for the Chinese since ancient times, the first making of tofu attributed to Prince Liu An of the Han Dynasty.

Tofu is made with soy milk from soy beans and a coagulant, then pressed into a wooden mold and finally pressed until excess water has been drained. I’ve been making my own ricotta and paneer cheeses for some time now. Tofu has been an integral ingredient in Chinese cooking since its origination. Perhaps it is time for me to tackle the lowly soybean and pick up in this way where my grandmother left off.

 Called the “velvety-smooth cheese,” as well as “the poor man’s meat and the rich man’s delight,” tofu has a distinctive, bland taste, yet it is extremely versatile and takes on all types of shapes and flavors once the cooking begins.

Now I imagine some of you are sighing, “She’s written about squab and frog legs. Now it’s tofu. Time to turn the page.” Please bear with me. I’m not writing about “The Art of Tofu Making” this week. It’s just going to be on my list of “Things I Want To Try.”

And when I consider ways to explain my “I’m gonna make tofu” choice, I think Nicole Spriridakis said it best in her blog on NPR’s Kitchen Window: “When you look at tofu as its own delicious entity, a door opens. If you fry cubed tofu hoping it will resemble stir-fried chicken, you’re ensuring disappointment. You’ll be much happier if you can embrace the essence of the soybean.”

Here is a great “go-to” noodle recipe in which one could easily swap chicken or cooked shrimp with the tofu, unless you want to make the tofu leap with me.

My second recipe relies on the soy bean itself, and makes a great game day appetizer, particularly if the soybeans are cooked in the pod with the sauce reduced to a thick glaze that coats the pods.

Zest the orange, set zest aside. Juice the orange. In a small bowl mix shallots, black bean and garlic sauce and ginger. In another small bowl mix the sherry, soy sauce, sesame oil and 2 tablespoons of the orange juice.

Heat a wok or pan over high heat. When the wok is hot, add the edamame and stir until just starting to blister. Add shallot mixture and stir-fry for a few minutes until the shallots begin to brown. Add 1 tablespoon of the orange zest and stir-fry another minute. Add the dry sherry mixture and toss until the edamame are glazed.

Serve immediately and enjoy lapping up the sauce as you shell the edamame with your teeth and then licking your fingers. My personal preference is to use shelled edamame and double or triple the sauce and serve the saucy edamame over steamed rice.

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