Crisp Silken Tofu in a Tomato and White Pepper Sauce

I had to renew my work visa the other day, which necessitated a trip to the immigration office so that I could be fingerprinted and all the rest. The only thing worse than taking an hour out of my day to visit a government office was posing for my mug shot and realising that I would be stuck with that photo everytime I have to go through passport control in the next 12 months. Someone ought to fix the lighting in those photo booths …

Thankfully, my time at the immigration office was over in 5 minutes (that’s Swiss efficiency for you) and as I walked back to the tram stop, I popped into the Asian grocer nearby to see what I could pick up for dinner that night. It was not a store I had frequently visited before and I was giddy with excitement by how well-stocked it was. I was particularly surprised to see a large selection of different types of tofu, including silken tofu which I had never come across before in Zurich.

In the past few months, I had tried some new tofu recipes from Luke Nguyen’s The Songs of Sapa. However, at the time, I could only find firm or fried tofu in Zurich, which worked well in these recipes but I was anxious to try them with the more soft and tender silken tofu. So I stocked up on half a dozen tubs of silken tofu in preparation for some tofu feasts in the days ahead.

Tonight, I made Luke Nguyen’s Crisp Silken Tofu in a Tomato and Black Pepper Sauce. My mother makes a similar dish which I absolutely love; it’s full of fresh ingredients and easy to make during the week. Though, I seem to only have white pepper in my kitchen, something which I think I’ve picked up from my mum who has an aversion to black pepper.

Luke’s recipe calls for the tofu to be deep-fried before it is added to the sauce. I have tried doing this a few times but my tofu pieces seem to soak up the oil like crazy – maybe it’s the type of tofu I’m using? So I prefer to lightly coat the tofu pieces in cornflour before deep-frying them in order to produce a nice, crunchy coating.

The tomato sauce in this recipe is a rather common sauce in most Vietnamese homes and which is also delicious served with grilled fish or chicken. The sauce is a little salty from the fish sauce, but it is perfect when served with steamed jasmine rice. All in all, it’s a lovely and comforting dish.

I’ve only tried a few recipes from The Songs of Sapa, though I use it more as a guide when I want to recreate some Vietnamese dishes. I think Luke Nguyen is a fantastic ambassador for Vietnam and its cuisine. If you love Vietnamese food, The Songs of Sapa is a must-have in your cookbook collection.

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