Tempura don (Ten-don) and my special tofu

My aunt (who lives in the US) is in town so I decided to cook something special for her. Well...I was also craving to eat my special tofu but it requires a whole century egg, so she was my perfect excuse.  Shh...don't tell her that.


Above is my special tofu which is light but makes a perfect appetiser or amuse bouche.  To make this particular dish, you'll need:
  • 1 box of silken tofu (I bought organic tofu)
  • 1 century egg
  • dash of mirin
  • dash of light soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of sesame sauce
  • 1 tsp of vinegar
  • dash of maple syrup or honey
  • few drops of sesame oil
  • sprinkle of shiso powder (optional)
Smash the century egg yolk with all the liquids in a bowl.  In another bowl, smash up the 'white' of the century egg.  Cut the box of tofu into 6 pieces and place each piece on a large sauce plate.  Top the tofu with the yolk mixture followed by the gelatinous 'white'.  Sprinkle with shiso powder or top it off with a bit of salmon roe for that extra oomph.

Notes: When tasting the yolk mixture, it has to be extra salty because the tofu will neutralise it.  If you have yuzu ponzu or any kind of ponzu, use that instead of the vinegar and instead of the 1 tsp, use 1 dessert spoonful of the ponzu.

As the main, we had tempura!! Below is me frying the mushrooms and other stuff we had tempura-ed were prawns, red and yellow bell peppers, fish and eggplant.  We had okra but I completely forgot about them.



My tempura sat on a bed of sakura rice which is Japanese rice mixed with chopped preserved sakura flowers.  The dried sakura gave the rice a slight plumy flavour which went really well with the tempura too.  I also had miso soup but I think that miso soup is just miso soup...nothing that special, especially when I wanted the highlight of the evening to be my tofu and the ten-don.

One day...I will have a special miso soup.  But it really depends on my craving.  My last trip to Japan has really spoilt my tastebuds for yummy soup.  Haha...stay tuned for that!

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