Serious Eats Cooks up the Asian Tofu Cookbook

Photo by Maren Caruso

This week, SeriousEats.com is featuring the Asian Tofu cookbook. It's part of their "Cook the Book" series in which they pick a noteworthy book and then present a number of recipes from the publication. There's also a giveaway of the selected work. In 2009, they featured Into the Vietnamese Kitchen in a similar fashion; Serious Eats has also cooked lots from Asian Dumplings. 

Right now, Asian Tofu is under Serious Eats's microscope. Caroline Russock is currently in charge of the column, and she knows her stuff. On Monday, Caroline started things off with these comments:

A whole cookbook devoted to tofu? Yes, please. Andrea Nguyen's newly released  Asian Tofu is a gorgeous guide to all things bean curd. Beginning with recipes for making your own tofu at home, Nguyen acts as a guide through the world of tofu enjoyment, a world that goes way beyond tofu's health food store staple reputation.

She's put together a colorful selection of tofu recipes designed highlight the wonderfully versatile world of bean curd. She takes us to Java by way of Spiced Tofu and Coconut in Banana Leaf, to Korea with Tofu with Kimchi and Pork Belly, to China for Fermented Tofu, Lemongrass, and Goat Skewers, ending up with a sweet selection of tofu based desserts including Tofu Blancmange with Cured Pineapple and Lime.

If boring and dull are your usual tofu descriptors, this week we're going to change your tone with recipes from Asian Tofu.

Then she continued her thoughtful review of the cookbook through a series of Asian Tofu recipes that include:

• Chilled Tofu with Crunchy Baby Sardines 
• Saag Soy Paneer
• Silken Tofu and Edamame Soup
• White Tofu, Sesame and Vegetable Salad
• Tofu with Kimchi and Pork Belly (photo at the top)