Steamed silken tofu with a savory soy sauce garlic dressing. This is the best Chinese silken tofu recipe for me. It is so tender and so flavorful. The silken tofu melts in the mouth with all of the seasonings and that’s the way of enjoying silken tofu.
Tofu in Chinese cuisine
As one of the most popular and humble Chinese ingredients, we eat tofu around the year. It is one of the best ingredients for a simple tofu salad on hot summer days or can be used in hot stews and soups in winter. Though it is plain and tasteless, the smooth texture and soy aroma still win our hearts. There are lots of people who love the raw taste of tofu. But there are also a large group of haters. Lots of people believe that there is soy raw taste makes tofu not delicious at all. In order to remove the raw taste, tofu is either blanched first or steamed first. In Mapo tofu, we blanched the tofu in boiling water. Steaming tofu for 6-10 minutes is another commonly used method.
💭What type of tofu to use
I use silken tofu. Silken tofu has a higher water content than other types of tofu (more than 66%) which gives it a super softer, smoother texture. It is often used in soups and sauces, as well as desserts such as pudding and ice cream. Silken tofu can also be used as a vegan replacement for dairy products such as yogurt and cream cheese. so it melts in a month quickly. It tastes more like a pudding dessert. So if you want to pursue a melt-in-mouth texture, silken tofu is the best choice.
If silken tofu is hard to find, you can also use soft tofu for this steamed tofu recipe.
Get your silken tofu out of the box without breaking
- Use a small knife and separate the edges of the package. Take a plate and cover it over the package. Turn it over and then cut small holes in the two diagonal corners. Blow some air in, then the package can be removed easily.
Cook’s Note
- In order to make the tofu enough tasteful, we need to use a large amount of dressing sauce. And please take it easy about the calories because we do not eat all of the dressing.
- Soy sauce from different brands may differ in saltness. So you can adjust the salt amount. By the way, the sauce itself should be slightly over-salty since the tofu is tasteless. Don’t be scared by the sodium amount, we do not eat them all.
Ingredients
1 box silken tofu, or soft tofu
Ingredients for sauce
- 2 tbsp. light soy sauce (low sodium)
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tbsp. chopped scallion and coriander (or scallion only)
- 2 fresh Thai pepper (optional), cut into small sections
- 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt (taste your sauce and see how much is needed)
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 1/2 tbsp. black vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves
Instructions
Place the tofu on a large plate and then cut the cubes into several 2 cm thick pieces. Silken tofu can be broken very easily, cutting in the serving plate can avoid transferring and keep the original shape. You can also choose to steam tofu in a whole box shape. But cutting makes the dish more delicious.
Let the tofu stay on the plate for a couple of minutes. Then carefully discard the water released. Set up your steamer and steam the tofu for 6-8 minutes. Transfer out and discard only water in the plate.
During the steaming process, let’s make the sauce. Place garlic and scallion in a small bow. Heat oil in a small pot and then drizzle the hot oil on garlic and scallion. And then add the other seasonings. Let the sauce combine for 2 minutes.
Take the steamed tofu plate out and then drizzle the sauce on the steamed tofu.
Ingredients
- 1 box silken tofu
Sauce
- 2 tbsp. light soy sauce , I use low sodium
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 tbsp. dried small shrimp or roasted peanuts
- 1 tbsp. chopped scallion and coriander or scallion only
- 2 fresh Thai pepper optional, cut into small sections
- 1/2 tsp. salt , or to taste
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 1/2 tbsp. black vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves
Instructions
- Place the tofu in a large plate and then cut the cubes into several 2 cm thick pieces. Silken tofu can be broken very easily, cutting in serving plate can avoid transferring and keep the original shape. You can also choose to steam tofu as a whole box shape. But cutting makes the dish more delicious.
- Let the tofu stay in the plate for coupe of minutes, then carefully discard the water released.
- Set up your steamer and steam the tofu for 6-8 minutes. Transfer out and discard only water in the plate.
- Heat oil in a small pot and then drizzle the hot oil on garlic and scallion. Then mix in all the other sauces.
- Drizzle the sauce over the steamed tofu and serve the dish hot.
Nutrition
Hi, Elaine!
In this recipe, do we not soak and fry the dried shrimp?
I enjoy all your other recipes. Thank you.
Paolo,
Haha, for your question. It actually depends on the type of dried shrimp. If it is larger ones, pre-soak it. For very thin, white, almost skin only, use it directly.
Hi Elaine!
I tried this again. This time I left the dried shrimp alone and just put it in. It was delicious.
This recipe is perfect. Thanks!
Haha. Thank you Paolo.
Hi,
garlic is missing in ingredients overview + how much and which oil do you use for drizzling?
And what’s the difference in using light soy sauce (less salt) but adding salt? Can I also just use normal soy sauce and then add no salt? Thank you
Hi,Louisa
Thank you for reminding my omission. 💗
Drizzling oil I used is sesame oil or Sichuan pepper oil.
Of course, you can also use light soy sauce and reduce the amount of salt used. Light soy sauce is mainly used for seasoning, and brings a unique flavor to dishes through its dark color and rich taste. Lightly salted light soy sauce focuses more on maintaining the original flavor of the ingredients, making the deliciousness of the ingredients themselves the protagonist of the dish. This dish is a cold dish, so I chose to use lightly salted light soy sauce.