Tofu can be cooked in many ways and a favourite of ours would be to have it served on a sizzling plate with soy sauce minced meat and dried chili and sometimes, with salted fish too poured all over it but when it comes to tofu soup, the most common one at the restaurants in town would be the somewhat thick Foochow version…
…with canned oysters…
However, when cooking it at home, I do like it in clear soup, cooked using pork bone soup.
I did buy some tofu sometime ago but so far, nobody has cooked it yet and the other day, I decided to cook the soup, the thick version of it as we did not have any pork bones in the freezer for the stock. As a matter of fact, we did not have any of the canned oysters either so I just had to do without those.
These were the ingredients I prepared…
– a few slices of ginger, minced meat (I did not use all of that, just as much as the minced shrimps), minced shrimps in place of the oysters and the tofu cut into cubes.
I fried the ginger in a bit of oil and when it was nice and fragrant, I threw in the meat and the prawns and stirred till they were cooked before adding a bowl of water. Once that started boiling, I added the tofu. For the seasoning, I just added a bit of fish sauce and finally, I added some cornflour diluted in water to thicken the soup.
There you are, so very easy…
…served with a sprinking of spring onion and daun sup (Chinese celery).
You may add more cornflour if you want it thicker – like sea cucumber or sharks’ fins soup. I could have added egg to the soup but I did not bother to do that. If you want to, you can break one into a bowl and beat it well. When the soup is boiling, pour the egg in slowly, beating the soup at the same time so the egg will spread.
When we sat down to eat that day, my girl took a sip and exclaimed, “This is nice!” Needless to say, I was mighty pleased and even though it did not take much effort, so very easy to cook, it sure was worth it.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Simple, hassle free and nice bowl of tofu soup. I used to cook this soup but never add corn starch as my family prefer clear soup. I also add some thinly sliced shitake mushroom into it.
Yes, they do that at some of the shops too.
I love to eat tofu a lot. I like to hv that in my fish soup. The koreans believe that you become a new person after eating tofu when you come out from prison.
Touch wood! Pray that I will never live to find out! LOL!!!
I love tofu in such soup. Thick or clear soup, fine with me. I havent go out and hunt for that canned clams.
Last I heard, they are not available in Kuching, only in Sibu. Prawns are good, none of the oysters “smell of the sea” as my girl calls it but they have their sweetness. Can’t go wrong with prawns, really.
Great recipe ! Easy to prepare !
Chinese cooking is usually very simple, easy to prepare. You don’t get a long list of ingredients, no complicated method.
I like tofu but I no expert in the varieties and cooking methods.
Not many ways to cook it but all quite simple, not much hassle. My late dad liked it steamed, served with soy sauce poured over it, just like that. Had something similar at one place here but they used oyster sauce, garnished with spring onions.
I want to try cooking your soup. I am pretty sure I would enjoy it a lot. I just need to buy tofu as I have all the other ingredients.
Simple and nice, typically Foochow.