Recipe: Steamed Tofu with Assorted Mushrooms and an Unexpected Visitor

I am not one to be overly superstitious, but I have noticed that every year around the Chinese New Year I get a visitor in the form of a moth. The first time I noticed it was the year after my paternal grandfather passed away. The Chinese believe that our ancestors visit the living, taking on forms such as the moth. That year, a beautiful, black and white Atlas moth visited our home. It came again the next year, and the year after that.  As a child, I believed it was my grandfather watching over us, year after year. At that time, Damansara Heights was still a place that was lush and protected. I remember fondly that when we first moved there in the early 1980s we could still find fireflies at night. I woke up to the sound of Myna birds in the morning. Many of those mystical, green spaces have given way to high rise condominiums over the years.

I woke up this morning and noticed this brown moth in my living room. In a place as "biodiversitically-challenged" as Singapore, it left me with a sense of awe and amazement. As I grow more cynical with age and try desperately to rationalise and to find neat and simple answers to everything, incidents like this remind me that some things just cannot be explained. The moth later followed me to the kitchen, above my preparation station where this picture was shot. I guess, it knew my favourite spot in the house.

As a cook, one likes to try new dishes at restaurants and replicate it at home. I have created a simplified version of a dish that is often served in Chinese restaurants, Tofu with Braised Mushrooms. Though the tofu is often deep-fried first, this version which is steamed and thus uses less oil is pretty good.

Ingredients:
1 block of soft tofu
4 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in about 1/2 cup of hot water for at least 30 minutes to soften
1 pack of enoki mushrooms, cut off roots and separate
150 g button mushrooms, sliced
150 g oyster mushrooms, sliced into halves if they are large. Leave small ones whole.
2 tsps minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp Shao Xing wine (Chinese rice wine)
1 1/2 tbsp oil
1/2 tbsp sesame oil

Seasoning:
1 1/2 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp sugar

Thickening: (optional)
1 1/2 tsp corn starch
2 tbsp water

1/2 tbsp chopped spring onions (optional)

Method:
Drain black mushrooms, cut off woody stems and slice thinly. In the same bowl used to hydrate the shitake mushrooms, combine seasoning ingredients and mix well.

Over high heat, steam tofu for 10 minutes. (Alternatively, microwave on high for about 2-3 minutes). Drain excess liquid.

Heat oil and sesame oil in skillet on medium-high. Add garlic and ginger and saute' until fragrant. Add in black mushrooms and Chinese wine, and stir fry briskly. Add in button and oyster mushrooms, stir fry for about 2 minutes, and then add seasoning ingredients and cover. Lower heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Lift cover up and add in enoki mushrooms. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

Finally, add in cornstarch slurry, if desired, (I usually skip this, as I am a saucy gal, haha)  stir, and pour over steamed tofu. Garnish with spring onions and serve hot.