Serious Eats: Recipes
Dinner Tonight: Steamed Tofu with Shrimp and Black Bean Sauce
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
Is there anything more boring than steamed tofu? I adore tofu when it's pan-fried, or slipped into some luxurious sauce. But I tend to pass the steamed version as quickly as possible. So why did I settle on this recipe from Food and Wine? Maybe it was the fermented black beans, which lend a meatiness to everything they touch. I can safely say, I was thinking more of the shrimp than the tofu when digging into this dish.
But now all I can think about is the texture of the tofu. It was very delicate, but still firm. I loved the way it latched onto the sauce, and almost preferred it to the shrimp. It's not the most exciting dish in the world, and some Sriracha wouldn't be out of place. But the key to this dish? It feels restorative and clean, which I'm sometimes in the mood for.
