Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi

Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi

Overview

Xishi tofu is a famous traditional dish in Zhuji, my hometown. Almost every family will cook it at the New Year’s Eve banquet. Zhuji is the hometown of Xi Shi, one of the four beauties in ancient times. This dish is often served as the first dish at any banquet, whether it is building a house, celebrating a new year, or a wedding, birthday, celebration or funeral banquet. It is also a home-cooked dish often cooked by the common people. Xishi tofu is commonly known as meat tofu. According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Xishi, a beautiful woman from Vietnam, was ingenious and good at cooking. The tofu she made was smooth, tender and tasted great. People followed suit and called this dish Xishi tofu. Later, Xishi pledged herself to the country, and in order to commemorate her, the villagers made this dish the first dish at the banquet, and it has been followed ever since. This dish is cooked with different ingredients in different households, but a few of them are indispensable. Chicken soup (or stock), with local chicken as the top priority, tofu, winter bamboo shoots, and other ingredients such as mushrooms, fungus, ham, carrots, etc. When I was a child, chicken gizzards and chicken intestines were usually included in the house, so I also used it today. The final starch thickening is also important. If it is thick, it will affect the taste. If it is too thin, it will not form. You can add it in small amounts in batches. The traditional starch is usually sweet potato starch, but I use corn starch. This dish is rich in texture. The smooth and tender tofu contains crispy diced winter bamboo shoots and chewy diced chicken gizzards. It can be eaten alone or poured over rice. It is a delicacy loved by all ages.

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Ingredients

Steps

  1. Dice the tofu, and finely dice the winter bamboo shoots, black fungus, carrots, and blanched chicken gizzards and chicken intestines.

    Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi step 1

  2. Dissolve the starch with water and set aside.

    Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi step 2

  3. Put a little more oil in the pot than usual. After the oil is hot, add chicken gizzards and intestines and stir-fry for a while. Add some cooking wine.

    Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi step 3

  4. Add in diced winter bamboo shoots and stir-fry.

    Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi step 4

  5. Add diced carrots and black fungus and stir-fry, add a small amount of sugar and an appropriate amount of salt.

    Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi step 5

  6. Add the diced tofu and stir-fry and mash some with a frying spoon.

    Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi step 6

  7. Add chicken soup. (This is matsutake chicken soup, so the color is darker)

    Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi step 7

  8. Pour in more boiling water to cover the ingredients (it's best to use all chicken broth, I added some boiling water when the chicken broth was not enough), bring to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes.

    Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi step 8

  9. Pour in the starch water and stir while pouring. Observe the thickness of the soup while pouring. Just make sure it is not thick or thin.

    Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi step 9

  10. Add a little MSG, sprinkle with a little chopped green onion and serve hot.

    Xishi Tofu—a traditional famous dish from Zhuji, the hometown of Xishi step 10