Saturday 20 September 2008

Yuba yum


According to medici, this is the best yuba I've made yet. Oooookay. To make the best yuba yet: soak yuba and discard water. Use a pan you can put in the oven. Simmer the yuba in soy sauce and white wine. Fish out the done yuba (there should still be some liquid left), and throw in grated ginger, garlic, a tiny bit of sugar and mustard greens. Cook the greens down, and add enoki mushrooms. Pile the cooked yuba on top, sprinkle with truffle oil and sesame seeds and pop the whole mess under the broiler. When it crisps up, eat it on black sticky rice. Drink the white wine along with dinner. Chase with salted chocolate. How very decadent. Medici is groaning with pleasure even as I type. Because of the food. Really.

If you set the rice soaking earlier, this really is fast to make, and dead easy. Any greens will work, as will any mushrooms (or combo of mushrooms). You can add tofu, or nearly any other vegetable that tastes good when cooked through. You can use sesame or olive oil instead of truffle (but I have truffle oil sitting there, and if I let it go rancid or fail to use it for yummy inventions, I will burn in culinary hell). Go easy on the soy sauce and heavy on the wine if you're not sure. You can always add salt later if you want. The sugar is key. You can't really taste it, but it makes the soy sauce taste, well, soy saucier. It's like when you add salt to cookies, but the opposite. See? Makes total sense.

Singing: "try a little priest" and many other choice tidbits from Sweeney Todd.

7 comments:

medici said...

This really *WAS* the best yuba ever. I'm still groaning with pleasure. Because of the food. Really! In fact, just looking at the yuba-yum picture, remembering the heavenly smell and taste, and contemplating the springy goodness of yuba beneath my teeth has caused a sudden spike in my appetite. I think that I will go grab a bite to eat on the way out my front door before rambling off to Holyrood Park with a small flask of whisky, a good book, and my camera.

Anonymous said...

Until now, I never heard about yuba. Sounds like a great dish!

medici said...

I had never heard of either, till this year - it's marvelous! I am a yuba convert.

It's.
So.
Good.

I love being surprised by blazing new foods! Bring on the twigs and the apples!

sinead said...

And you can even make your own yuba, if you are so inclined:

http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/?p=501

Anonymous said...

Never seen yuba before, either, and will likely have to try making some myself sometime, as I think that's one of those things that are as likely to be found here in Sask. as saltwater fish. Then again, the two-stores we call our 'china town' might prove me wrong.

(also, definately planning out a Sweeney Todd night, and making 'meat' pies for all my friends, just for the irony of it)

sinead said...

I actually found yuba the last time I was in Saskatoon. Granted that was about 8 or 9 years ago, but it's really common in chinese supermarkets. Ask for yuba or "dried tofu skin" or "dried bean curd sheets"

Anonymous said...

Yay! yeah, I'll try. And sorry for the lame similie... I was really, really tired when I was writing that.