Japanese Baked Tofu

By popular demand, here is the recipe for the Japanese style baked tofu I wrote about in the Autumn Kaiseki post.  It is similar to a frittata, but obviously a healthier alternative being vegetarian.  It is just as good for a kaiseki (warm) as it would be for a lunch box (cold).

Ingredients
60g soaked weight of konbu (soaked in water for half an hour prior to weighing)
100g carrot
100g burdock (you can use frozen or fresh, whatever is available)
10-15 shimeji mushrooms
Boiling stock – 3 tbs sake, 1.5tbs usuguchi (light) soy, 1 teaspoon sugar
750g fresh firm cotton tofu (I use Yenson’s Super Tofu, the one in the large takeaway container)
Add to base:
4tbs white miso
2 teaspoons sugar
1tbs usuguchi (light) soy
1tbs mirin
3tbs sake
Oil for greasing tin

Method
Cut the kombu, carrot, burdock and shimeji mushrooms to a uniform matchstick size, and simmer in the boiling stock ingredients until tender. The liquid will almost evaporate, so just keep and eye on it to ensure the vegetables don’t burn.

In a separate pot, cover the block of tofu with water, bring to a high simmer and cook for five minutes. Remove from water and place on a cheese cloth lined sieve and weight the tofu to draw out the moisture. You could do this by inverting a plate over the block of tofu and weighting with a tin can for about half an hour.

Once drained, put tofu through a uragoshi (very fine sieve) and mix with white miso, sugar, soy, mirin and sake. Add the matchstick vegetables and mix well to combine.

Grease a square-ish tin (something like a tamago yaki pan is perfect), transfer and spread mixture evenly and bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees Celsius) for about 25-30 mins. You’re looking for a nice golden hue to the top, and the sides will start to pull away from the pan.

Remove from the oven and let settle in the pan for at least half an hour.  Cut from the pan and serve.