3 Japanese Cold Tofu Recipes | Japanese Home Cooking | Japanese Summer Recipes | Cold Appetizers

Hi everyone, it's Lisa. Today we'll be making three different cold tofu recipes in Japanese style, Hiyayakko. What that means in Japanese is simply cold tofu. This is a great cold appetizer that is perfect for summer, so let's get to it. So, silken tofu comes in these tetra packs and a range of firmness, from soft to extra If you haven't tried silken tofu before, then you are missing out, my friend. Silken tofu is different from the regular tofu you might find at Trader Joe's or your regular grocery store. Silken tofu is a lot creamier and softer and silkier, whereas, you know, other tofu types are more spongier, it just has a little more texture to it. But you'll definitely find silken tofu in any Korean, Japanese, or Chinese market menu. So let's empty out the tofu. You have to be careful when handling silken tofu because they're very delicate and smush easily. Just look at how smooth that is. Now I'm going to cut it into three pieces for our recipes. You can just use the whole block for each of these recipes if you want to also. For our first recipe, we'll have some fresh avocado. We're only going to need a quarter of it, but if you are going to use a whole block of tofu, by all means, use the whole avocado. We're going to slice it very thin, slide it against each other to fan it out, and then place it in our serving bowl. Carefully place the tofu in, then score the top of the tofu in a crisscross fashion to allow the sauce to seep in. If you live near a Japanese or Korean market, you can get a variety of ponzu sauces. You can also opt for a yuzu shoyu, which is yuzu-flavored soy sauce. We're going to drizzle a couple spoons of ponzu over the tofu and then top it off with some masago or tobiko. These are cured fish roe, which you can find in the Asian market as well. For garnish, I'm going to use oba, also known as shiso leaves. Just roll them up and julienne them. If you can't find shiso leaves, you can substitute with mint or basil, or both mint and basil together. So top off your tofu with shiso and that's it! Just five simple ingredients and your hiyayakko is ready! This next recipe is going to require just a little bit of planning, about one or two hours ahead. We're going to cure some egg yolks, which will give us that beautiful gooey yolk break open on top of the silken tofu. For our curing mixture, we're going to combine a teaspoon of grated ginger, one small clove of garlic, grated or crushed, a quarter cup of soy sauce, quarter cup of mirin, and half a teaspoon of togarashi powder. Next we need to separate the egg whites from the egg yolk, then drop the egg yolks into the curing liquid. Spoon some of the liquid over the yolks, then cover and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour. In this video, I'll be curing it for four hours. The longer you cure it, the less runny the yolks will be. For garnish, I'm going to use radish sprouts and chop up some fresh chives. When the egg yolk is ready, gently place it on top of your tofu, spoon a tiny bit of the liquid over, then tuck in the radish sprouts and drop in all the chives. This is optional, but you can add a pinch of yuzu kosho on top for a little bit of a kick. And that's it! That's recipe number two, hiyayakko with soy cured egg yolks. The third recipe is probably one that I make the most because it uses very simple Japanese pantry ingredients that I already have on hand. So let's make our ginger soy sauce. Mix together a tablespoon of soy sauce, a teaspoon of sugar, half teaspoon of dashi granules, half teaspoon of water, and a teaspoon of grated ginger. Like before, we're going to score our tofu on top and spoon the mixture over. Add some fresh green onions, drop in some toasted sesame seeds, and then we're going to finish it off with some bonito flakes. You want to buy the ones that are tiny and soft and come in these small individual packets. These ones are used for garnish, whereas the ones that come in big bags have bonito flakes that are much bigger in size and are used for making dashi. All of these dishes are so great and so quick to put together. They can honestly accompany any dish. I make them with Korean food, I make it with Chinese food, I make it with Japanese food. One suggestion on what you want to eat it with could be miso soup and some grilled miso salmon on the side with rice. I could literally just put this tofu into my rice and eat it with some miso soup and that is a whole meal on its own for me. This is also just so great for summer. It's so refreshing, it's so light, and it's cold. This is such a great summer dish. I hope you guys give it a try. Don't forget to like and subscribe. I'll see you guys in the next video.