Fried Tofu, Two Ways - Vegetarian Soy Sauce Fried Tofu (生抽煎豆腐) & Qing Dynasty Shrimp Tofu (蒋侍郎豆腐)

So we got a request from Procristease22 for some vegetarian food, which was perfect because we've been meaning on doing some more tofu dishes anyhow. So we wanted to show you two dishes today. First, a simple vegetarian fried tofu with shallot and soy sauce, and also a non-veg fried tofu with dried shrimp that we learned from an old Qing Dynasty cookbook. So, to get started with some simple vegetarian fried tofu, we need tofu. This is 400 grams firm tofu. To cut, first optionally cut off the hard bits on the top and bottom of the tofu. You don't need to do this, but it'll give the tofu a more even texture. Now cut the tofu in half through the thicker side, then cut them into one centimeter wide pieces. Once they're cut, thoroughly dry your tofu because we don't want these to be popping like crazy when we add them to the oil. For the aromatics, we only got about three sprigs green onion and a shallot. Cut up the green onion into about two inch sections, saving the white bit for stir-frying and the green bit for tossing in near the end. Slice up the shallot, and we are ready to fry some tofu. As always, first, longyau. Get that wok piping hot, shut off the heat, add in the oil, here about three to four tablespoons, and give it a swirl to get a nice non-stick surface. Heat on medium now. Carefully add in your tofu. Doing it one by one will ensure that they don't pile and break. Now, don't touch it. Let that sit for eight minutes to crisp it up and let a crust form. If you're using a round bottom wok like us though, you'll periodically want to the wok in each direction to let the tofu cook evenly. Eight minutes later, the bottom of the tofu should be nice and golden brown, so flip. Give it five minutes or so on the other side, then take out the tofu. Now to the oil. Add in the sliced shallot and the white part of the green onion. Same medium heat. Give those a fry for about a minute or two until they start to smell real nice, then add back the tofu. Give it a quick mix, then up the heat to high and toss in about a tablespoon of liaojiu aka Shaoxing wine on the spatula around the sides of the wok. Give it another quick mix and add in one and a half tablespoons of soy sauce in the same way together with a teaspoon of sugar. Fry for about 30 seconds till the sugar dissolves, shut off the heat, mix in that green part of the green onion, and out with the tofu. This dish is great, and one of our favorite ways to eat tofu. That said, what might be even better is this non-veg version with shrimp that we slightly adapted from an old Qing Dynasty cookbook. So, what we're doing here is adding 15 grams of dried shrimp and two cups of water to a saucepan and simmering covered on low for one hour. This is going to infuse the water with glutamate from dried shrimp for a real intense umami flavor. An hour later, take out your shrimp water and reserve. We're going to pan fry the tofu in the same way at first, but this time we're frying with lard. As an aside, frying with lard is awesome and gives some more richness to tofu and vegetable dishes. Once you've reached the point where you've flipped the tofu and both sides are golden brown, add in that shrimp and shrimp liquid. To this, we'll be adding some rice wine. The Qing Dynasty cookbook specifies a sweet rice wine, but we're adding a good Cantonese mijio instead. As an aside, this specific one from Foshan's my personal all-time favorite Chinese liquor, but add in a quarter cup of any decently tasty rice wine, cover, lowering the heat to medium low and letting that cook for 20 minutes. 20 minutes later, your liquid should be mostly absorbed and evaporated. Add in two tablespoons soy sauce, a teaspoon of sugar, and let that all cook down for another couple minutes. To let the other side also get some of those awesome juices, give them a quick flip, then add in some of the green part of a green onion, give it a mix, and out. This dish has just got a real intense umami flavor that absorbs so well into the tofu. If you know any tofu skeptics out there, just feed them this dish and they'll turn into believers. So those tofu dishes sound great, whether you're a vegetarian or a meat eater, I hope you can give this a try. Check out the link in the description box for a detailed recipe, and subscribe for more Chinese cooking videos.