“These are good times for tofu lovers,” Andrea Nguyen writes in The New York Times this week, for her smart tofu primer that considers three categories: basic, chewy and intensely flavored. She reports that America’s tofu consumption has roughly doubled in recent years, fueled in part by a growing interest in plant-based cooking. Whether smoked, shredded, preserved, fried or sliced into slippery noodles, this staple of Asian cooking, invented in China 2,000 years ago, has a lot to offer.
Andrea includes three fantastic recipes that demonstrate the breadth of what tofu can do. Tofu fans, rejoice! There’s rau củ sống chấm chao, a lemongrass-spiked fermented tofu dip that has a blue-cheese-like depth of flavor, perfect for all sorts of cut veggies. Liángbàn gāndòufusī (above) is a shredded tofu salad made with pressed tofu sheets, crisp slivers of cucumber, scallions and a tangy sesame dressing. And for the sweet-toothed, my favorite, dòuhuā, is custardy, silken tofu drizzled with ginger syrup; it’s a dish I order whenever I see it on dim sum menus in New York. I cannot wait to make it at home.
Also in the I-can’t-wait-to-try-this-at-home category is Kay Chun’s recipe for soy-glazed salmon hand rolls, an easy take on a sushi bar staple usually made with unagi (grilled eel) and a sublimely sweet sauce. Accompanied by a bowl of homemade miso soup, it’s so much better than takeout, and less expensive, too.
How was your weekend? Did the Easter bunny visit? If you made ham and are contemplating leftovers, why not go Miami-style and fry up a batch of ham croquetas? They’re gooey on the inside, shatteringly crunchy on the outside and thoroughly delectable. Also Miami-inspired are these Cubano sandwiches, stuffed with ham, cheese, roast pork and pickles, and then pressed on a griddle until the cheese is melted and the bread is crisp. (We also have a version with turkey and ham).
Maybe you’re celebrating Passover and have loads of matzo on hand. Put it to good use in matzo lasagna, which is just like the classic cheese-and-tomato version, except matzo crackers stand in for the noodles. Or fry up a pan of matzo, lox, eggs and onions, a matzo brei-adjacent sauté that you can serve for breakfast, lunch or dinner. These are good times for matzo lovers!
For something sweet, I’m excited about Yossy Arefi’s whole-wheat chocolate chip loaf cake with its sugared, salted topping. It’s easy for a weeknight and a tad more healthful than the usual confection.
You’ll need a subscription for the recipes. Subscribing supports our work, allowing us to bring you new recipes every week, on top of the thousands already in the archives. You can also find us on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, where — circling back to tofu — you can watch how it’s made at Fong On, a family run tofu shop in New York City.
If you’re having technical issues — say, your recipe box disappeared or the print button won’t work — the smart folks at cookingcare@nytimes.com can help. And I’m at hellomelissa@nytimes.com if you’d like to say hi.
I’ll be back on Wednesday. See you then.
