In China's long-standing food culture, stewed tofu with cabbage is a home-cooked delicacy with profound cultural heritage. It originated in the Song Dynasty, according to the "Tokyo Menghualu" record, cabbage and tofu are called "common people's double treasures", and are frequent guests on the table of ordinary people. Legend has it that Zhu Xi, a great Confucian in the Song Dynasty, advocated a simple life, and stewed tofu with cabbage was one of his daily diets, reflecting the Confucian food philosophy of "never getting tired of eating fine, not getting tired of fine". This dish not only carries the pursuit of the original taste of the ingredients of the ancients, but also reflects the culinary concept of Chinese cuisine that focuses on balance and harmony.
Cooking Steps:
**Preparation Materials**:
- Chinese cabbage 400 katsu
- Tender tofu 300g
- Ginger 10g (sliced)
- 5 garlic cloves (crushed)
- Chicken broth 500 ml
- Salt to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
- Chives: Appropriate amount (minced)
**Steps**:
1. **Cabbage Processing**: Wash the cabbage and cut it into wide strips to retain the tenderness of the cabbage sum so that it can maintain the texture when stewing.
2. **Tofu Cut**: Gently cut the tender tofu into 2 cm square pieces and handle gently to avoid breaking.
3. **Preheat the pot**: Add a small amount of oil to the pan, heat over medium heat, add ginger slices and garlic cloves and stir-fry until fragrant.
4. **Cabbage**: Put in the cabbage stalk and stir-fry for a while, then add the cabbage leaves, and fry until slightly soft.
5. **Add soup to simmer**: Pour in the chicken broth, add the tofu cubes, bring to a boil over high heat, turn to low heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
6. **Seasoning and Sauce**: Sprinkle salt and white pepper to taste, simmer until the soup is slightly thickened, sprinkle with chopped green onions.
Notes:
- **Heat control**: Be sure to keep the heat low when simmering to prevent the tofu from crumbling and the cabbage from being too rotten.
- **Seasoning timing**: Condiments should be added before the dish is about to come out of the pot so as not to affect the original flavor of the ingredients.
The pairing of cabbage and tofu is not limited to this, try making them into cabbage tofu soup, cabbage tofu dumplings, or even cabbage tofu rolls, each variation can bring a new taste bud experience.
Tips:
- Blanch the tofu with boiling water before cooking to enhance its toughness and reduce breakage during cooking.
-When cutting cabbage, the knife is tilted a little, and the cut cabbage slices are thinner and easier to rot
When a pot of hot cabbage stewed tofu is served on the table, the emerald green cabbage and the white tofu snuggle up in the clear soup, exuding a faint fragrance, at that moment, it seems that you can hear the soup gurgling, and the tip of your nose lingers with the smell of home. Each bite is a gentle soothing of the palate, and the sweetness of the cabbage and the delicacy of the tofu are intertwined, warming the spleen and stomach and touching the heart.