Shan Tofu

Myanmar's golden tofu made from chickpea flour and not a soybean in sight, set warm and eaten in slabs with a garlic and chilli dressing

Origin: Shan State & the Myanmar Highlands

From the journey of Chickpea.

Shan tofu contains no soy. It is made from chickpea flour, or from the flour of the yellow split pea, whisked into water and cooked like a polenta until it thickens, then poured out and left to set into a soft golden block. It is one of very few tofu-shaped foods anywhere that has nothing to do with the soybean, and the Shan, the largest minority people of Myanmar, have been making it in the eastern highlands for long enough that no one treats it as a substitute for anything. The texture is the reason it is worth the trouble. Set warm, it is softer and more custardy than bean curd, with a faint sweetness and a clean pulse flavour, and it is eaten in three ways: fresh in thick slabs with a dressing of garlic oil, chilli, soy, and crushed peanut; cut into batons and deep-fried into tohu jaw, which is the standard Shan street snack; and sliced into the noodle salads and soups of the region. What the cook is managing is starch gelatinisation and nothing else, so the two variables are the ratio and the whisking. Too much water gives something that will not hold a cut; too little gives a rubbery block. The mixture must be whisked continuously as it comes to the boil or it seizes into lumps that cannot be dispersed afterwards, and it must be cooked several minutes past the point where it looks thick enough, or it tastes of raw flour. Shan State's cooking is distinct from lowland Burmese in ways that go beyond this dish: less fish sauce and more fermented soybean, more tomato, a lighter hand with oil, and a set of noodle dishes that Yangon adopted enthusiastically. Shan tofu has travelled with it, and a stall selling tohu nway, the warm unset version eaten as a thick soup over noodles for breakfast, is now a familiar sight far outside the hills.

Ingredients

Tofu

  • 250 g chickpea flour (besan) or yellow split pea flour
  • 1.2 litres water, cold
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 0.5 tsp ground turmeric

Dressing

  • 4 tbsp peanut or neutral oil
  • 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 2 tsp dried chilli flakes
  • 3 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar or lime juice
  • 1 tsp caster sugar

To finish

  • 3 tbsp roasted peanuts, crushed
  • 3 spring onions, sliced
  • 1 handful coriander leaf

Method

  1. Whisk the chickpea flour into a third of the cold water with the salt and turmeric until completely smooth, then leave it to stand for ten minutes.
  2. Pass it through a sieve if any lumps remain. Lumps will not disperse once heat is applied.
  3. Bring the remaining water to the boil in a heavy pan.
  4. Pour the batter into the boiling water in a steady stream whilst whisking hard and continuously.
  5. Keep whisking as it comes back to the boil. It will thicken suddenly and considerably, and this is where it seizes if left alone even briefly.
  6. Once thick, lower the heat and cook for a further eight to ten minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon, scraping the base constantly.
  7. Take it past the point where it looks done. Undercooked chickpea flour tastes chalky and raw, and no amount of dressing hides it.
  8. It is ready when the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan in a mass and a spoon drawn through leaves a channel that closes slowly.
  9. Pour it into an oiled tin or dish to a depth of about 3cm, level the surface, and leave it to cool completely, then refrigerate for at least four hours until firm.
  10. Make the dressing: warm the oil, fry the sliced garlic until pale gold, take it off the heat, and stir in the chilli flakes, soy, vinegar, and sugar.
  11. Turn the set tofu out and cut it into thick slabs or batons with a wet knife.
  12. Spoon the garlic dressing over and finish with crushed peanut, spring onion, and coriander. For tohu jaw, cut into batons and deep-fry at 180°C for four minutes until crisp.

Notes

The two failure modes are lumps and undercooking, and both are settled in the first five minutes: sieve the batter, and whisk without stopping until it has thickened. After that, cook it longer than seems necessary. The ratio given, roughly one part flour to five parts water by volume, gives a tofu firm enough to cut and soft enough to be worth eating; less water gives a rubbery block. Yellow split pea flour is the more traditional choice in Shan State and chickpea flour is easier to find and behaves the same. It keeps three days refrigerated and firms further as it sits, which makes day-old tofu better for frying and fresh tofu better for eating cold.

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