Home is where The Horse is

“Why then,” mused The Horse over lunch, “don’t you like tofu?”

Being Japanese, of course, she'd grown up with the stuff - it forms part of her culinary heritage. But me, I bridled.

Now tofu, as we know, is one of the sticks with which carnivores most commonly choose to beat us vegetarians. And personally, I can't say I blame them.

Tofu looks like it might have substance. But it doesn’t. Tofu looks like it might have flavour. But it doesn’t. Tofu is cold, wet, sloppy, colourless and tasteless, not unlike how I imagine tripe to be. Or maybe the white, squelchy bits from inside the belly of an inveterate beer drinker.

But we were not eating tofu. We were eating atsuage...

Can’t give you a definitive English name, but the brand stocked by our local supermarket is ‘House’, and the packet describes it as a ‘Tofu Cutlet’. The block inside the packet has a surface area a little smaller than a postcard, and the contents look as if they might be a small loaf of bread in perfectly rectangular form.

What you do:

Take the block out of the packet and set it under the grill on a low heat.

In the meantime, finely chop some spring onions and grate some fresh ginger. Keep your eye on the atsuage, turning it as the crust starts to crisp.

It’s done when the edges are just beginning to burn. Pop it onto a plate, take a sharp knife and cut gridwise, so that the block is rendered into around ten bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with the spring onions and ginger, then drizzle liberally with soy sauce.

Eat while still hot.

Bon appetit.

http://www.house-foods.com/variety/variety_age.htm