I've rediscovered my love for silken tofu! It's been the forgotten step child lately, shadowed by its brothers medium firm, firm and extra firm. I only use it in hot and sour soup or mashed up in a fruit smoothie, but this particular night it looked me straight in the eyes and screamed "I can be fried too!". This could be a very good thing and simple too. After draining the block of tofu for about 45 minutes (they hold A LOT of water) I dredged them in a mixture of rice flour, five spice powder and sea salt. Straight into the wok they went and while they sizzled away, I prepared a shitake mushroom saute. Flipped my tofu over to brown on the other side and moved my attention back to my shitakes. I seasoned them with oyster sauce and thickened it all up with a cornstarch slurry. All set.
I spooned the shitakes over the golden brown tofu. What have I been missing out on? The silky tofu was custard-like and heavenly. The crust was light and crispy. The textural differences! The sauce was perfectly salted heightening the sweetness of the mushrooms. We had crispy and silky, sweet and salty all in the same bite. Hmm… What other food have I forgotten about?