Green Beans with Tofu Dressing (Shira-ae)
Green Beans with Tofu Dressing (Shira-ae) is a simple vegetarian side dish. The tofu-based dressing has a very gentle flavour and goes well with blanched green beans with some carrot to give a bright colour to the dish.Note: Prep time includes the time to extract water out of the tofu. Actual working time is much less.
- Prep time
- 25 min
- Cook time
- 5 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 50g/1.8oz carrot
- 120g/4.2oz green beans
- 2 pinches of salt
- 1½ tbsp (12g) roasted white sesame seeds
- 200g/0.4lb firm/momen tofu ((note 1))
- 1 tbsp + ½ tsp sugar
- 1½ tsp miso
- 1½ tsp light soy sauce
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
- 1
Wrap the tofu in a couple of sheets of kitchen papers and place it on a cutting board. Place a plate on the top as a weight and leave it for 20-30 minutes.
- 2
In the meantime, cut the carrot into 4-5cm long thin matchsticks. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the carrot sticks and leave for 10 minutes. Squeeze them to get moisture out.
- 3
Boil water in a saucepan with a pinch of salt and blanch green beans for a minute or two. Transfer the beans to a bowl of cold water to cool them down quickly.
- 4
Trim both ends off the beans and cut each bean diagonally into 5cm long pieces.
- 5
Grind the sesame seeds in a mortar and pestle until most seeds are ground.
- 6
Remove the kitchen paper from the tofu, and place the tofu into the mortar, breaking it into small pieces (note 2).
- 7
Pound the tofu using a pestle until the tofu becomes smooth without large chunks of tofu pieces. The consistency is like loose yoghurt.
- 8
Add the remaining Tofu Dressing ingredients to the mortar and mix well.
- 9
Add the beans and the carrots to the tofu dressing and mix well.
- 10
Serve in 4 small individual bowls as a side or in 1-2 plates/bowls as a salad.