Tofu Soup (flower-shaped tofu with miso and vegetable broth)
Cutting a block of tofu into a blossoming flower isn't really that hard! This recipe teaches us how to make a flower-shaped tofu soup with miso and vegetable broth within 20 minutes.
Equipment
- plate (About ½'' thick)
- chef's knife
- pot with lid (And 3 pieces of foil)
- Round cookie cutter (About 3'' diameter)
Ingredients
- 8 oz silken tofu (A box of tofu is about 17oz. We will only use the center part to carve the tofu flower. You can save rest part of the tofu, and use it to make this soup again tomorrow.)
- 1 cup vegetable broth (Homemade or store-bought. Use low-salt broth.)
- 1 tbsp miso
- ¼ tsp chili oil (Optional)
- 1 tsp green onion (Chopped)
Instructions
- Slide a small knife into the plastic cover of the tofu box, cut around, and peel off the cover. Flip the tofu box over a plate, use a knife to trim off the flour corners of the tofu box. Gently lift up the tofu box, then you will have an intact silken tofu on the plate.
- Use a 3'' round cookie cutter to cut a circle on the center of the tofu block. Gently lift and remove the cookie cutter.
- Pour about 1 tbsp of cold water on the top surface of the tofu, and rinse a chef's knife with cold tab water. With this step, the tofu will be less likely to stick to the knife when you cut it.
- Cut the tofu block into 2mm thick slices from one end to the other. Once the knife's blade is about to touch the rim of the plate, stop cutting down so that you do not cut through the tofu. (See Note 1)
- Rotate the tofu 90°, cut the tofu into 2mm thick slices with a 90° angle to the previous cuts. Also, do not cut through the tofu, stop cutting once the knife's blade is about to touch the rim of the plate.
- Use a small knife to slide along the round cut (you made the round cut earlier with the cookie cutter). Use a scraper to transfer the center tofu piece to a soup bowl. You can keep the remainder in a food storage container in the fridge for next time use (use within 3 days).
- In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of vegetable/chicken broth (see Note 2) to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, add 1 tbsp miso paste to the broth, stir until fully dissolved. (Ideally, place the miso paste in a fine-mesh sieve, lower it into the broth, and then stir the miso and broth within the sieve until all the miso particles are small enough to pass through the sieve.)
- Carefully pour the miso soup over the flower-shaped tofu. Optionally, drizzle with ¼ tsp of chili oil and garnish with chopped green onions.
- Steam the tofu soup over high heat for 5 minutes before serving. Serve hot.
Video
Notes
Note 1:
I placed the tofu on a plate with a ½''-thick-rim, and only cut down to the rim so that the bottom part of the tofu block was all linked together and the tofu wouldn't fall apart.
If you can't find a proper plate, you can also cut a potato/carrot into ½''-thick-slices, and place one slice on each side of the tofu lengthwise.
Note 2:
To make a simple but delicious 15-minute vegetable broth:
- Add 1 ear of sweet corn (cut into 2 to 3 pieces; or ½ cup of corn kernels), ½ carrot (about 150g, peeled and cut into chunks), ¼ cabbage (about 150g, washed, no need to cut), 5 cilantros (about 5g), ½ cup of mushrooms of your choice (about 50g) and 4 cups of water to a pot.
- Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low, simmer the broth for 15 minutes.
- Strain all the vegetables from the broth (you can eat these vegetables), add ½ tsp of salt to the broth.