Meat was a luxury item Pamelia Chia Raised in Singapore, the chef remembers older generations enjoying chicken and rice on payday because it was the only thing they could afford. Times have changed. By the 1990s, when she was growing up, seafood, meat and dairy were on every table and in almost every dish. When Chia moved to Australia, she witnessed bushfires up close and personal and wrestled with the effects of climate change. She changed her diet but was unwilling to sacrifice flavour, texture and satisfaction. She turned to Asian cuisine and techniques to make vegetables delicious.
When Chia started to eat a plant-based diet, she found that most cookbooks were written by vegetarians for vegetarians, and she wasn’t interested in artificial meats or soy products. Yotam Ottolenghi She reached out to 24 chefs and compiled their recipes into a plant-based book. Plantasia: A vegetarian cookbook from around Asia.
The secret to this salad is hitting the cucumbers with the back of a knife to open them up and allow them to absorb the seasonings. Photo by Gold and Grit Photography.
Silken tofu and cucumber salad
Serve 3 to 4
In Chinese food culture, there is a dish called Stomach Energizer (开腹菜), which is a platter of small dishes usually eaten at the beginning of a meal, and this recipe is one of my favorites because it’s so refreshing. The key to this dish is to hit the cucumber with the back of a knife (or other heavy object) so that it breaks apart, allowing it to better soak up your favorite dressing, which in this case is made by heating herbs in hot oil, which enhances the flavor and color. If you’re looking for something richer and more indulgent than silken tofu, stracciatella is an unconventional but great option.
material
- 1 large cucumber (12½ ounces/350 g)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 14 oz/400 g silken tofu
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 5 tablespoons/75ml oil
- ⅓ cup/45g raw peanuts (with or without skin)
- 3 tablespoons of Chinkiang black vinegar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 cloves of garlic (⅓ ounce/10 g), minced
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons Korean chili flakes (gochugaru)
- 1/2 teaspoon Sichuan pepper powder
Instructions
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Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and place it cut side down on a cutting board.
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With the side of a large knife, preferably a heavy knife, strike the cucumber firmly along its entire length until it splits in half.
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Slice the cucumber diagonally into thick slices and place in a bowl. Add the salt and mix.
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Spoon silken tofu onto serving platter in large chunks.
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Toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden brown, shaking the pan constantly. Transfer the seeds to a small bowl.
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Heat a saucepan over high heat and add the oil and raw peanuts. When the skins begin to peel or the skinless peanuts turn golden brown, transfer them with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels. Set the saucepan with the oil aside for later.
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Drain the salted cucumbers and toss them with the vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Sprinkle the garlic, sugar, chilli flakes and pepper powder on top of the tossed cucumbers.
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Add the reserved oil to the frying pan and heat over high heat until the oil begins to smoke. Pour the oil over the herbs; the oil should sizzle on contact.
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Give the cucumber salad a quick stir. Taste and add more soy sauce, black vinegar, sugar, etc., if needed.
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Spoon the cucumber and dressing over the tofu, sprinkle with sesame seeds and fried peanuts and serve immediately.
Chia builds his dishes around flavours, accents, techniques and textures. Take, for example, Australia-based Sri Lankan chef Gayan Pieris’s Hot Button Mushrooms. This recipe is a spin on the popular Sri Lankan dish, hot buttered calamari, in which hand-sliced mushrooms are added to a thin spice batter and deep-fried to caramelise. Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce) and ketchup.
For her book Plantasia, Pamelia Chia reached out to 24 Asian master chefs to compile plant-based recipes. Photo courtesy of Singapore Noodles.
