Cold Tofu Salad

Recipe: cold tofu salad

I’ve received a lot of requests lately for foods I’ve posted pictures of without corresponding recipes. I will get on those in due time. There just happens to be a huge backlog of recipes I need to post and I’m cranking them out daily (have you noticed?) because I have another chemo on the horizon. But it’s my last frakking one! Can I get a w00t! ?? Hell Effingham yeah, people.

So just sit tight and keep your pants on.

I know some folks get that sour-lemon look on their face when they hear the word tofu. Those people can stick it. If you know how to prepare tofu properly it is teh delish. And yes, I know how to prepare it properly. I’m Chinese after all, and I wield a big knife.

I spent my fair share of childhood summer days sweating my brains out running around like a maniac in the sweltering and oppressive Virginia heat. On occasion I’d come inside on weekends and find my dad preparing a refreshing lunch of cold, silken tofu tossed with loads of goodies. I’ve never had this in Chinese restaurants, so I am just assuming it’s my dad’s concoction. Either way, I loved it. Like Diane, I too am a salt girl rather than a sweets girl. Salt grrls rule. I just call it cold tofu, but I suppose it’s really cold tofu salad or some such thing.

I’m posting the packaging for the less common ingredients because if you’re anything like me, you can’t read Chinese and you may not know how to find these things in an Asian market. Sometimes I have to ask the lady who runs our local Asian market in Boulder and she shouts at me (that’s her only volume though, it’s not that she hates me – she actually likes me). I’m trying to save you guys from the shouting.

I always use silken tofu in this dish as the firm stuff just has the wrong texture. The preserved mustard green is a salty, crunchy sort of pickled vegetable. Pork sung (pork floss) is really finely shredded dried pork with a sweetish flavor to it. I like to eat the pork sung with congee (rice porridge) and loads of chili radishes and any other spicy vegetables. Love the spicy. Give it to me.

Cold tofu salad is a totally simple recipe. Top the tofu cubes with the minced onions and mustard green. Pour a little sesame oil for flavor (use chili oil if you’re my dad) and some soy sauce. Sprinkle the pork sung on last or else it becomes a matted mess that soaks up the soy sauce and becomes unbearably salty.

Now, for the more daring eaters, you can add some diced thousand year egg. If you’re not familiar with this preserved duck egg, don’t freak out. It’s not really a thousand years old. It has been preserved in a mixture of ash, salt, lime, and other stuff which raises the pH and transforms the sucker into this:

My dad loves to dice this up and add it to the cold tofu salad. I am not such a fan of the egg and I’ve given it several chances, believe you me! I’ll list this as optional. I opt out and enjoy my refreshing salad sans green and black stinky egg.

Cold Tofu Salad


[print recipe]

8 oz. silken tofu, diced into 1 inch cubes


2 stalks green onions, minced


2 tbsps preserved mustard green, minced


2 tbsps pork sung


1 tsp sesame oil


1-2 tbsps soy sauce


1 thousand year duck egg (optional)

Combine ingredients and serve cold.

May 5th, 2008: 11:59 pm


filed under chinese, family, health, recipes, savory