Indian Aster with Dried Tofu (Fragrant Cold Salad)

Why people make this dish

During a stay in Shanghai, Nourilo noticed this dish appearing at almost every dinner table as a cold starter. It is a beloved spring staple in the Yangtze River Delta region — fresh Indian aster herb (ma lan tou) blanched and tossed with dried tofu, dressed simply with sesame oil. The herb is in season in spring, and that is when it tastes best: the wild-grown variety has a deeper, more concentrated fragrance and smaller, darker leaves, while farm-grown ma lan tou is lighter green and milder in flavour. Either works well here.

Beyond its pleasant taste, Indian aster has a long history in Chinese herbal medicine: it is traditionally described as bitter and cool, associated with clearing heat, cooling the blood, supporting eye health, and helping to ease urinary discomfort. In practice, this makes it a useful everyday vegetable for people experiencing eye redness, a scratchy throat, dry mouth, or gum bleeding — conditions often linked in Chinese wellness thinking to accumulated heat or fire.