Cold-Dressed Spiced Tofu Strips (Liang Ban Dou Gan Si)

Why people make this dish

Cold-dressed tofu strip salads are a classic Cantonese cold platter — the kind of dish that looks impressive, tastes bright and satisfying, and comes together in under half an hour. Home-made is cleaner and fresher, and the ingredients are easy to find at any Asian grocer: a block of pressed tofu, some Chinese celery, a few peppers, and a carrot. The result is crisp, fragrant from the sesame oil, colourful, and satisfying. It makes an excellent light side dish alongside a soup or a bowl of rice.

Pressed spiced tofu (dou gan) has a firm, chewy texture that holds up beautifully when sliced into fine strips. The trick Nourilo shares is blanching the tofu in water with a tiny pinch of baking soda, which makes the strips noticeably softer and more pleasant to eat.

Method

1. Slice the pressed tofu into fine matchstick strips (si) — aim for about 5 cm long and 3–4 mm wide.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. Add the tofu strips and blanch for about 3 minutes — the baking soda is the secret to a soft, silky texture. Remove with a slotted spoon and immediately plunge into 300 ml of cool boiled water to stop the cooking and firm up the texture.
3. In the same boiling water (or a fresh pot), blanch the celery, capsicum, and carrot briefly — just a minute or two until slightly softened but still crisp. Remove and plunge these into cool boiled water as well.
4. Drain all the vegetables and tofu strips thoroughly, pressing gently to remove excess water.
5. In a large bowl, combine sesame oil, light soy sauce, a pinch of sugar, and oyster sauce. Taste and adjust — it should be savoury, lightly sweet, and fragrant.
6. Add all the drained ingredients to the bowl and toss well to coat evenly.
7. Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to a few hours before serving.

Nourilo’s Tips

• The baking soda blanching step is the key technique. After blanching the tofu in the baking-soda water, rinse it briefly under cool water and let it sit in cool boiled water for a few minutes — this makes the texture even better.
• For a single serving, simply reduce all quantities by half.
• Leftover soup broth can be stored (remove all solids first, especially vegetables and mushrooms, which should not sit in the liquid overnight) and reheated the next day.
• This dish is best served the day it is made, as the vegetables may release water over time and dilute the dressing.