Chicken liver and tofu terrine 鶏レバーのテリーヌ風

Believe it or not this recipe came from "Appetizers and a la carte small dishes for Izakaya" by Tadashi Shinojima.  Judging from the title of the book, by definition, this must be an Izakaya food. Although this looks and tastes like a chicken liver pate (actually it is more pate than terrine), there are a few Japanese touches; one is the inclusion of tofu and the other is the addition of "edamame" 枝豆. Since I bought a container of chicken livers for Yakitori, I decided to make this dish; a situation similar to the previous time I made braised chicken liver and onion.

I used about 180 grams of chicken liver. After removing the fat and connective tissue, I soaked it in ice cold water for 15 minutes. I added a bit of sake to the water and boiled the liver for 4-5 minutes until thoroughly cooked. Meanwhile, I wrapped a firm or "momengoshi" tofu 木綿ごし豆腐 in paper towels and microwaved it for several minutes. I re-wrapped it in new paper towels and placed a heavy plate on the top for 10 minutes to squeeze out any excess water. I used about 150 grams (after removing the excess water) of tofu. In the mixing cup of an immersion blender, I added the cooked liver (180grmas), tofu (150grams), beaten egg (1/3), cream (1 tbs), grated onion (1 tbs), salt and pepper and blended them until smooth. I then folded in the shelled edamame (I used about 20 of the frozen kind, cooked and shelled). I also added small cubes of left over steak (the recipe called for cubes of roast beef).  I then poured the mixture into small (disposable) loaf pan and baked for 30 minutes in a preheated 400F oven in a bain-marie. The original recipe was a bit vague about how this dish is to be cooked (the author said "mushiyaki" 蒸し焼き or steam-bake in an oven) but I interpreted this to mean bake using a bain-marie. I let it cool down to room temperature and stored it in the refrigerator overnight before slicing.

The recipe suggested serving this with a "white cream sauce" but I chose to serve it like a pate with cornichon pickles on toasted small squares of cocktail bread. The texture is great and the edamame and cubes of steak made an interesting texture contrast and color. If you are not told, you would not have guessed that close to half the bulk came from "tofu". It has a nice irony liver pate taste but it needs more distinctive spices (maybe more onion, black pepper and salt). For a fusion pate with tofu, this is not bad. Does Tofu make this dish a healthier dish? - maybe.