Just Hungry

There are some dishes in Japan that look and have a texture like tofu, but are not tofu in the traditional sense; that is, they’re not made from coagulated soy milk. One of these not-tofu tofus is goma dofu （ごま豆腐）or sesame tofu. Goma dofu is made from three simple ingredients: ground sesame paste, water, and kuzu or kudzu powder.

Goma dofu, the poster child of shoujin ryouri

Shoujin ryouri (shojin ryori) is the mostly-vegan cuisine that was developed in Buddhist monasteries in Japan, and goma dofu is one of the best known shoujin ryouri dishes. Making it from scratch is hard; kuzu powder is difficult to process from kuzu roots, and the sesame has to be ground for a very, very long time in order for it to become totally smooth. The job of grinding the sesame was assigned to low-level novice monks - the hard work was considered to be good for their character.

The lay person however can take two critical shortcuts: use readymade kuzu powder, and pre-ground sesame. In Japan pre-ground sesame paste is sold as nerigoma, but elsewhere it’s known as tahini. Granted, grinding up your own freshly toasted sesame seeds does result in a slightly more fragrant goma dofu, but tahini based goma dofu is still very good. And your elbow will be saved for playing more Wii Tennis.

Recipe: Goma dofu (sesame tofu)

Makes 12 to 16 squares.

• 70g (2.5 oz) tahini or nerigoma that has been stirred very well
• 50 g (1.75 oz) kuzu powder
• 500ml (2 cups plus a tablespoon) water, filtered water preferred

Equipment needed: bowl, pan, square container to mold the goma dofu

Combine the kuzu powder with a little water to make a paste. Add the rest of the water and mix well.

Put into a pan over medium heat, and add the tahini or nerigoma. Mix continuously, smooshing any lumps of sesame paste and incorporating it as well as possible into the liquid. When it heats up it will start to thicken and get a bit lumpy - keep stirring to smooth out the lumps. After a while, it will turn from milky to a bit more translucent in color and have the consistency of a thick pudding.

Wet the inside of the square container you’ll use as the mold. Pour in the hot pudding-like mixture and smooth out the top. Bang the container a few times onto a countertop or table to get rid of bubbles. Let cool to room temperature, and then put into the refrigerator to cool, about 2 hours.

Unmold and cut into squares. Serve chilled, with wasabi or grated fresh ginger and soy sauce. (The goma dofu on its own is quite bland, so it does need the sauce.) It’s really nice as a cold appetizer on a warm day. It can be stored, well covered, in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

If you want to grind your own sesame seeds

Use hulled white sesame seeds, toast lightly in a dry pan, and grind for about an hour or so in a suribachi for about an hour until totally smoooooooth. Character improving, indeed. Strain through a fine sieve before using.

Incidentally, the term goma o suru (grind sesame seeds) is a euphenism for sucking up to (or brownnosing) someone.

Variation with peanut butter

Use smooth unsweetened (and preferably unsalted) peanut butter in place of the sesame paste for a peanut tofu.

A short intro to kuzu powder

If you have gluten tolerence problems, chances are you have already encountered kuzu powder as a gluten-free thickening agent. It’s the starch produced by processing the roots of the kuzu or kudzu plant. Here’s what it looks like:

Kuzu is a very good thickener when the dish needs to have a sort of starchy-gelatinous texture and be translucent. It’s used in a variety of savory and sweet dishes in Japan. You can buy it at Japanese grocery stores or health food stores. I find that it’s usually a bit cheaper at Japanese food stores than at health food stores, but it’s still rather expensive since producing it from kuzu roots is a very laborious process.

At the moment I am rather into kuzu powder (since I found a relatively cheap source for it locally), so expect to see some more recipes using kuzu in the next few weeks here, especially since it’s very nice for cold dishes…and it’s allegedly coming up on summer (though it’s hard to tell by the weather here today!)

Read more about kuzu and how it’s made on this manufacturer’s site.

See also: kuzumochi, “mochi” squares made just from kuzu powder and sugar.