Recipe #10: braised tofu, spinach and shiitake mushrooms in black bean sauce

 This is my version of a beloved dish from another favourite long-gone restaurant from my youth, Young Lok in Toronto. Young Lok was a classic semi-authentic Szechuan Chinese restaurant, located in the Village by the Grange plaza near downtown Chinatown, and a family favourite all through the 1980s and 90s. 

When Young Lok closed its doors, I thought I’d never have anything like their braised tofu (or as their menu called it, “bean curd”) in black bean sauce again, and I haven’t. But I think this version comes pretty close—thanks to a special ingredient, without which this recipe would be a mere shadow of its aspirations.

I’m going to split this recipe into two parts: the pre-cooking of the tofu, and the final braised dish.

Part I: pre-cooking the tofu, or “bean curd”.

Ingredients:

Directions:

First, pat dry and squeeze some moisture out of your firm tofu with a clean tea towel. Then slice the tofu into serving size cubes:

Next, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and add a big glug of peanut oil, a slightly smaller glug of tamari or soya sauce, and a slightly smaller glug of toasted sesame oil directly to the paper:

I like to take a moment and appreciate the random abstract art that forms and changes as the ingredients combine and repel each other. 

Next, add your tofu cubes to the liquids directly into the tray and get them covered in the oils and sauce. We don’t need perfect uniform coverage here, just enough to give each piece a good shmear.

Now pop the tray into a preheated oven at 375F and let them bake for 20-30-ish minutes. After 20 minutes, start checking on them and give them a poke to see if they’re getting crispy. It’s a personal preference how crisp you want them, and they will soften a bit in the braising later. Experiment!

I think the picture above needs about 5-10 more minutes.

Perfect! The tofu above is ready for lots of different dishes, or just to eat as a snack. But for now, let’s put them aside and work on our main dish.

Part II: the main dish.

Ingredients:

Do you see the special ingredient in the picture above? Let me give you a closer look:

This is it. You need this. Spicy fermented black bean sauce. I get it at my local Asian grocery stores, but during desperate times during the pandemic lockdown I was able to order it on the online shopping platform that shall not be named because I am horrified that I helped contribute financially to a billionaire’s phallic vanity spaceship. But just so you know, that’s an option.

Directions:

Put a generous handful of dried shiitake mushrooms in a bowl and cover with boiled water, then cover and set it aside. This creates softened mushrooms as well as a mushroom tea or “stock”.

Next, wash and chop your fresh spinach in thick ribbons. You don’t need to drain the washing water, and in fact, I’d prefer that you don’t.

Now heat your “wok”, or whatever large fry pan you have, on “medium high” heat, or even “high”, but don’t add any oil.

When the pan is hot, add your wet chopped spinach ribbons and stir as they wilt.

Meanwhile, in between spinach stirs, remove your softened shiitake mushrooms from their liquid (don’t throw that “stock” out! We’ll be using it soon), and cut off their tough stems and slice coarsely.

Now add your shiitake pieces to the wilted spinach in the wok and pour in some tamari sauce (a good glug) and the shiitake tea/stock. Things are moving quickly now so keep up!

Things will be sizzling in the wok and the liquid will try to evaporate, so move fast! Add a huge spoonful of our secret ingredient black bean sauce, stir everything, and add our precooked tofu:

Now mix a small spoonful of corn starch with water in a separate cup and mix well:

Add this cornstarch “slurry” to the “wok” and stir everything together as it thickens and gets a nice and glossy sauce forming:

And it’s done! It can simmer longer if necessary, like if your rice or dinner guests aren’t ready, but it won’t get any better than it is right now.

I like to serve mine the way I had it at Young Lok, with white rice and chopsticks.

Thanks for the memories, Young Lok!