Simmered “Ni-Yakko” tofu 煮やっこ

Japanese dishes made with cubes of warm tofu can have quite a few variations. Those considered basic/traditional are called “Yu-dofu 湯豆腐”. “Yu” means hot water and “dofu” means tofu. In its basic form, cubes of tofu are warmed in a pot.  The pot contains a kelp broth with no other seasoning aside from the flavor of the kelp.  Submerged in the center of the pot is a special small metal cup with dipping sauce (soy sauce based) in it. This way both the tofu and the dipping sauce both get warmed. You dip the warm tofu in the warm dipping sauce before eating. This dish is usually served at the table and eaten “family style”. Then there is another category of warm tofu called “ni-yakko 煮やっこ*”. “Ni” means simmered and “yakko” means cube of tofu. In contrast to “yu-dofu” the broth for this dish is seasoned. Once you use seasoned broth, the possibility for variation widens; you could add other vegetables, eggs etc. “Niku-doufu 肉豆腐” is another variation. “Niku” means meat and “doufu” is the tofu. In this dish thinly sliced beef is simmered with tofu in soy sauce based broth but the main item is tofu and the beef is considered just part of the seasoning. In any case, I made a variation of “ni-yakko” since we had extra silken tofu. I added thinly sliced fresh wood ear mushrooms and blanched daikon green since I happened to have them. For good measure, I added beaten eggs which is called “tamako-toji 卵とじ (picture below).

*I previously pontificated about why cubes of tofu is called “yakko”.

There is no recipe per se. The simplest form of “ni-yakko” is cubes of tofu simmered in seasoned broth usually soy sauce based. The quality of the tofu is very important in this kind of dish. The silken tofu I got is called “House” brand and is made in the U.S, by a Japanese company. Compared to other “silken tofu”, this is much better. In any case, this is how I made this dish.

Ingredients:
1 package of tofu (good quality, I used silken tofu)
Seasoned both, enough to cover the ingredients (I made Japanese broth with a “dashi pack” and seasoned with 4x concentrated Japanese noodle sauce)
Wood ear mushrooms, cut into thin strips (optional)
Blanched Daikon green, cut into small pieces (optional)
2 beaten eggs

Directions:
Cut the tofu in to bite size cubes
Add tofu in a small pot so that the tofu smugly fits
Add the seasoned broth and simmer for a few minutes or until the tofu is warmed up
Add the mushrooms and daikon green
Add the eggs and gently mix and cook until just set

This is a very gentle comforting dish. Again, the quality of the tofu is the key to its success.