Home / All Recipes / Japanese / Kyoto Style Tofu and Shimeji in Ankake Sauce
Kyoto Style Tofu and Shimeji in Ankake Sauce
Elegant and sophisticated Kyoto tofu and shimeji mushrooms dish served with a thick ankake sauce from Japanese potato starch and usukuchi/light soy sauce.
Kyoto cuisine is famous for its delicate subtle flavor, just like this dish. Most of Kyoto dishes rely heavily on a good dashi stock, then subtly flavored with soy sauce (typically the light variety, or usukuchi 薄口醤油).
If you want to draw out the full flavor of this dish, you really must spend some time making your own dashi stock, but even if you opt for a shortcut using dashi stock granules, this is still a very delicious dish with a subtle flavor.
The next bit of culinary term is ankake sauce (餡かけ ソース ), which simply means dishes covered in a thick starchy sauce.
This dish is super easy and super fast to make. It took me about 10 minutes from start to finish, including all the prep work and cooking time!
The key is to start by boiling your broth, then while waiting for the broth to boil, prep the tofu, shimeji, scallions, and make the katakuriko (Japanese potato starch) slurry.
The rest of the steps are easy, just add tofu and shimeji into the broth, simmer for 5 minutes, then heat up and add the katakuriko slurry to thicken the sauce, and its done. Just scoop it into a serving bowl(s) and garnish with scallions.
If you cook this dish in a nabe (Japanese clay pot), you can serve it directly from the nabe. Easy, delicious, and healthy.
Kyoto Style Tofu and Shimeji in Ankake Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup dashi stock (or 1 1/2 cup water + 1 teaspoon instant dashi granules)
- 1 tablespoon usukuchi (Japanese light) soy sauce (*)
- 2 tablespoon mirin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste) (**)
- 1 block firm tofu (about 400 gram), cut into 8-12 blocks
- 1 packet shimeji mushroom, cut away the roots and tear into pieces
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced diagonally
- Katakuriko slurry (mix the following together)
- 2 tablespoon katakuriko (Japanese potato starch)
- 2 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Place dashi stock, usukuchi soy sauce, mirin, and salt in a sauce pot. Bring to a boil. If you own a nabe (Japanese clay pot), you can make this dish in a nabe and it can be served directly from the nabe.
- Add tofu and shimeji to the pot, cover with a lid, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid and turn the heat to medium-high. Stir the katakuriko slurry into the pot and keep stirring until the sauce thickens.
- Turn the heat off, transfer to a serving bowl (if not using a claypot), and garnish with scallion. Serve immediately.
Notes
- (*) Can be substituted with regular soy sauce.
- (**) You probably need more salt with regular soy sauce.
Comments
This looks absolutely delicious. I love how easy and quick to make it is too.
I am a beginner when it comes to cooking with tofu and your recipe looks like one I can approach and make with confidence, thanks!
This sounds so comforting!! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
What a beautiful dish. I have been looking for a new way to enjoy tofu. Thank you.
What a beautiful way to eat tofu! Your fabulous photos make it look so appetizing!
My grocery store didn't have the usukuchi soy sauce, dashi granules, or shimeji mushrooms so I had to sub a few things. I used regular soy sauce and more salt, sliced baby bella mushrooms, and shiitake dashi, and it turned out delicious! I'm not usually a mushroom lover, but this was so tasty! For the shiitake dashi, I let 3 dried shiitake mushrooms soak in 1 1/2 cups water overnight covered with plastic wrap. Before use, I squeezed the liquid out of the mushrooms and discarded them. They weren't fantastic quality for eating texture-wise so I used fresh baby bellas instead but they sure made a great stock. Incredibly easy and cheap recipe - I love it!
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