I adapted this recipe from Bee Yinn Low's 'Braised Bean Curd with Mushrooms' recipe which I found on her website  www.rasamalaysia.com . Very homestyle, flavorful, and easy to make. I opted to cook the ingredients in a large sauté pan/wok rather than cooking them directly in the clay pot but did serve everything in a clay pot for final presentation.

Very simple ingredients in this recipe. In fact, the most time-consuming part (if you consider 10-15 minutes time consuming) is the pan-frying of the tofu to achieve a lightly golden, crispy exterior. This dish is standard fare in Taiwanese cuisine and a fixture in my mom's home cooking. The sliced Fresno chili is not traditional, but something I like to add for color & a little kick. I've cooked this dish two ways: one using firm/regular tofu and the other using soft tofu -

This essentially vegetarian version of a classic salt and pepper Chinese dish, typically done with chicken or seafood, is one of the best things you can do with tofu. I adapted this recipe from Fuchsia Dunlop's cookbook Every Grain of Rice  and the end result is scrumptious. If you're generally not a fan of tofu this rendition is da bomb! The tofu is lightly coated in cornstarch and then fried until crispy on the outside but still creamy tender on the inside. The salt & peppe

This is Chinese comfort food at its best. It's rustic, spicy, nutritious (as long as you go easy on the oil), and really delicious. Tofu is widely available in most markets these days, but the hot bean paste, black bean sauce and Szechuan peppercorns you'll probably have to buy from an Asian market. I get mine from 99 Ranch Market, a Chinese supermarket chain in California and many other states.

Home Style Tofu is basically a homey Chinese concoction that comes in many iterations, depending on who the home cook is. The traditional Szechuanese version is spicy due to the addition of hot bean paste. My mom's Taiwanese version (with julienned pork, soy sauce, a pinch of sugar, sesame oil, and Chinese chives) is not. I like to straddle the line between savory & spicy, so this is my take.

I first came across this recipe in Weichuan's cookbook Tofu! Tofu! Tofu!  (published in 1994), then recently adapted it by using my own version of Kung Pao sauce and adding a few extras ingredients, such as sliced mushrooms, red onion, jalapenos, and cilantro. If you can Kung Pao chicken, then why not tofu, shrimp, or other stuff? They're all good!

If you gave me a choice between French fries or fried tofu, well the answer should be obvious. Even if you're not fond of tofu this fried version is, well, just really, really good. Two tips: it's best to use soft tofu for this dish (crunchy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth tender on the inside) and also to serve it hot.

For this delicious Cantonese-style dish I tenderize the beef first in a baking soda-water mixture before marinating. The texture of soft tofu pairs beautifully with super tender beef and the delectable sauce consists of chicken stock lightly flavored with oyster sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil. So good served over steamed white rice!

Sounds like a weird combo, but tofu and avocado actually go really well together. Not sure where this dish originated from, but I adapted my version from a recipe in Weichuan's Chinese Rice and Noodles with Appetizers, Soups and Sweets . The original used only soy paste for the sauce, but I added a bit of sesame oil and wasabi to spice it up. Bonito shavings are optional, but I think they really enhance the dish.

The best oyster omelette I ever had was at the Shihlin Night Market in Taipei. I'm speaking, of course, of the market I remember from my formative years in Taiwan. Back then, the night market was rustic, chaotic, and totally non-conforming to our modern hygienic standards, but the street food offerings were so incredibly good. I'll never be able to replicate those oyster omelettes of yore, but here's my best rendition. For the purposes of home cooking, I've found it best to d

So good and so easy, especially if you happen to have some braising liquid left over (i.e., frozen) from a previous pork belly braise-fest. If not, the below marinade recipe also produces delicious results.

Steamed egg is a simple yet luscious savory dish that comes out almost like a custard. Great for a cold winter's day. My mom didn't make this too often when I was a kid but it was a real treat whenever she did, and the addition of bacon made it even mo betta. Doesn't sound like a traditional Chinese combo, but then who doesn't like bacon and eggs? The ingredients are very simple, but the tricky part is in the steaming: if you let it cook over high heat for too long, the egg w