Before I go home to visit, my mother and I talk on the phone about the food I want to eat when I arrive. My “off the plane” dish is always salt and pepper tofu. Pillows of tofu, gently fried until golden, scattered with chile and scallion seared in hot oil, and finished with a dusting of salt and pepper seasoning. This dish tastes like home. In this recipe I use eggplant, which is an exciting variation on this classic dish. My mum and I love eggplant—for lunch, she would often steam fingers of eggplant and serve it with soy sauce and white pepper. This recipe is great because it is completely adaptable—in fact, I tried broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and asparagus before finally settling on eggplant. Any of those veggies will work and, of course, use chunks of firm tofu if you wish.
Recipe taken from To Asia, With Love, by Hetty McKinnon, published by Prestel.
