Stinky Tofu with Green&Red Peppers

emointhekitchen

“Smells stinky and tastes good” as China’s most distinctive “traditional snack”, stinky tofu is not only well-known for its unique taste but also integrates with local delicacies, deeply imprinting local characteristics. This dish is intimidating to a lot of people just because of the smell it has an intense smell and is often described as rotten having a smell. Similar to Olomouc curd cheese. It is difficult to find a more typical folk dish. Plus it tastes better than it smells. Tofu is pickled with various Chinese herbs and other ingredients. Everyone has their own recipe. When it is pickled, it begins to ferment, which gives tofu its characteristic aroma. Stinky tofu is prepared in many ways. Steamed, grilled, with spicy or soy sauce.

According to legend, in the eighth year of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, Wang Zhihe, a judge from Xianyuan County, Anhui, went to Beijing to take the exam. Unfortunately, he lost his name and stayed in Beijing to run a tofu shop. One day, Wang Zhihe planned to make fermented tofu curd because he had accumulated a lot of stock. He cut the tofu curd into small pieces and put them in the jar. A few days later, when opened the jar, he found that the tofu turned blue and smelled very bad, but it was very delicious, so decided to sell the stinky fermented tofu curd as a commodity. Smells unpleasant and tastes unique. This green and red pepper-fried stinky tofu are crunchy and tasty.

You will need:

bean curd (fermented)
firm tofu
garlic
cloves
shrimp paste
water
green onion
ginger
green and red pepper
oyster sauce
soy sauce
sugar

Procedure:

I went to a Chinese supermarket and found this fermented bean curd. I poured it all into a bowl to mix up. A lot of people don’t like stinky tofu just because of the smell. It leaves an aftertaste, so if there’s someone you don’t like, you can breathe in their face after you eat it. Keep mixing and it will turn a creamy colour. Add the water I usually have preboiled in the pot on the side to thin it out. Continue mixing until it has a consistent texture.

I add some garlic to give it flavour. These garlic presses are excellent and will help you get a lot of garlic flavour without chopping it. We can add about five cloves to this varnish. I want to marinate the tofu for at least 24 hours, the longer the better.

Put it aside and prepare our tofu, which you can find in every supermarket. If you want firm tofu, don’t choose soft, it will burn and fall apart when you insert it. For our tofu, we want to cut it into cubes that are not too thin. After we cut everything, throw all the tofu in here, make sure you don’t get any of it on your counter and you don’t want to stink up your kitchen. You can add a little water on top. So 24 to 72 hours and this step is essential to keep your fridge from smelling.

I’m going to add another ingredient to the brine. I’m going to be adding shrimp paste which is popular in southern Chinese cooking and also in Southeast Asia it’s fermented shrimp paste that’s brined with salt. We’re just going to put a little bit in a bowl and mix it with some water. We’re going to set this back into the fridge and allow it to marinate for the rest of the day.

Stinky Tofu with Green&Red Peppers

Prepare all the ingredients. Stinky tofu is cut into triangles and deep-fried in a frying pan. Place on kitchen absorbent paper to absorb oil. Cut green and red pepper into pieces, slice garlic, and chop green onion and ginger. Heat oil in a wok and sauté the onion, ginger and garlic until fragrant. Pour in the green, and red peppers and fry for a while. Add oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar. Pour in the fried stinky tofu and stir fry evenly. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir.