This recipe happened by accident but I liked it so much that I decided to make it again. I was trying to come up with an alternative for a cream cheese topping for the sushi cake and this tofu sauce was the result. It wasn’t thick enough to pipe with a pastry bag so I decided to pair it with vegetables and I just happened to have these beautiful pink and white beets. This recipe was one of my happy accidents in the kitchen.
Ingredients (Servings 2)
130 grams or a little more than 1/2 cup of kinugoshi tofu (silken tofu)
3 teaspoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds ground or 1 tablespoon of tahini
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon of dashi powder
1-2 beets depending on the size
Directions
1) Toast the sesame seeds in a pan over medium heat. Shake the pan until the seeds puff up and start to pop or use toasted sesame seeds. (Toasting them makes a big difference in flavor)
2) Put them in a mortar and let them cool for a while.
3) Grind them until they are finely ground.
4) Transfer the sesame powder to a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, use a blender.
5) Add the tofu, sugar and dashi powder and pulse until it’s a smooth sauce.
I like mine a little thicker but if you want a thinner sauce, use dashijiru or soy milk to thin it out.
6) Boil or use a pressure cooker to cook the beets and peel and cut into half circles if the beets are large or circles if they are small.
7) Pour the sauce over the beets and serve cold.
**If there is any sauce leftover, mix it with blanched spinach, boiled beet leaves, blanched broccoli, grilled green onions, or your favorite vegetable.
130 grams of kinugoshi is a little more than 1/2 cup.
After toasting the sesame seeds. Grind them up in a suribachi (Japanese mortar).
Add all the ingredients into a food processor or a blender and pulse or blend until smooth.
The sauce should be thick and creamy.
Cut the beets and arrange them on a plate. Somehow this picture reminds me of checkers.
The checkers now have sauce.
Can you see the pink and white rings?
Naomi Kuwabara was born and raised in California but spent many summers in Japan growing up. She has spent time living in Hokkaido and Osaka, both meccas for Japanese cuisine. Her passion is cooking and sharing her experiences cooking Japanese food with others. Her blog Umamitopia is about her experiences cooking Japanese food. Her greatest inspirations are from her mother and grandmother. Her cooking adventures can be found at http://umamitopia.com.
