Mum’s Braised Bean Curd with Mushrooms is an easy and delicious 30 minute weeknight recipe! These pillowy soft tofu bites are simmered alongside mushrooms until they’re infused with an incredible vegetarian oyster sauce inside out.
If this style of cooking is what you love, try it with eggplant, sea cucumber or abalone!
A vegetarian treasure
It’s hard to beat a classic Braised Chicken Wings and Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce with its deep, earthy flavors and succulent fall apart wings. But if there’s a side dish that’s just as marvelous AND fits in with every meatless Monday, it’s Mum’s Braised Bean Curd with Mushrooms.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can make it all in one dish and it tastes even better like that!
Braising everything together means all the ingredients are slow cooked to juicy perfection. Then, when you bite into the deeply golden tofu and mushrooms, you’ll taste all the vegetarian stir fry sauce infused inside.
No mouthful will ever be dull!
Why you have to try Mum’s recipe
- Using coconut water as a base naturally sweetens the sauce without the need for sugar.
- Putting the Chinese cabbage in at the end adds a gentle sweetness to the dish while retaining a wonderful crunch.
- Mixing in different types of mushrooms and tofu means you’ll have an incredible variety of textures and flavors all in one dish.
What you’ll need
The Tofu, Mushrooms and Vegetables
About the tofu
We use two different types of tofu – fried and vegetable – which we get from Asian specialty vegetarian stores. These can be easily subsituted with just fried tofu.
As for the other ingredients, they can be found at Asian supermarkets. If they are unavailable then you can simply replace it with mushrooms that are accessible to you.
The Seasoning
About the sauces
We use the vegetarian version of the Chinese oyster sauce, which we buy from our local Asian grocery store along with all of the other sauces.
How to make this recipe
On low heat, mix the light soy sauce, vegetarian stir fry sauce, honey, sesame oil, vegetable stock powder, salt and coconut water until it begins to boil.
Add the lion’s mane and shiitake mushrooms in and cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes or until softened.
Note: If you use ingredients that take longer to soften, add them in before the others to cook first.
Pour in the king oyster and woodear mushrooms and stir them into the sauce. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the Chinese cabbage and cook until softened, then mix in the black moss.
Serve the Braised Bean Curd as is with a bowl of hot rice!
FAQs
You can replace it with oyster sauce or a mixture of dark and light soy sauce. Just make sure to taste as you go to make sure it’s adjusted to your preference.
Black moss simply adds another texture and mild earthy flavor but can be skipped if it’s not available.
Definitely! I would recommend cooking ground meat separately with some light seasoning, then adding it in to simmer with the tofu so it absorbs the sauce’s seasoning. The flavor would resemble what you’d get with Grandma’s Eggplant and Pork Mince Stir Fry.
Tips for the best results
- Keep the heat on low for a constant slow simmer. Having the stove temperature on too high will sear the outside which means you’ll run the risk of burning and the sauce flavor won’t penentrate through each ingredient.
- Use dehydrated mushrooms. Rehydrated dried mushrooms have a much stronger flavor than fresh mushrooms, which gives this dish a much earthier profile.
- Use fresh coconut water. Nothing beats fresh produce for a meal with less preservatives!
Turn it into a great meal!
- Set the table with a refreshing Chinese Smashed Cucumber Salad (拍黄瓜).
- Add a punch of aromatics when you make our Stir Fried Pea Shoots with Garlic and Mum’s Easy Lemongrass Tofu.
- Spice things up using a homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil.
- Pair everything with white rice or Rice Cooker Rice with Mushrooms and Chinese Broccoli.
- Mushroom and Chinese Cabbage Soup will soothe the palette.
- Wrap up your meal with a creamy and nutty Black Sesame Soup (芝麻糊)!
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Braised Bean Curd with Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 300 g / 0.66 lb fried tofu
- 250 g / 0.44 lb vegetable tofu
- 10 g / 0.02 lb black moss (rehydrated)
- 500 g / 1.1 lb Chinese cabbage
- 450 g / 1 lb lion's mane mushroom
- 450 g / 1 lb shiitake mushroom (rehydrated)
- 200 g / 0.44 lb woodear mushroom (rehydrated)
- 400 g / 0.88 lb king oyster mushroom (sliced)
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 7 tbsp vegetarian stir fry sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp vegetable stock powder
- 2 tsp salt, or to taste
- 1 L / 4.22 US cup coconut water
Instructions
- On low heat, mix the light soy sauce, vegetarian stir fry sauce, honey, sesame oil, vegetable stock powder, salt and coconut water until it begins to boil.
- Add the lion's mane and shiitake mushrooms in and cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes or until softened.Note: If you use ingredients that take longer to soften, add them in before the others to cook first.
- Pour in the king oyster and woodear mushrooms and stir them into the sauce. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the Chinese cabbage and cook until softened, then mix in the black moss.Serve as is with a bowl of hot rice!
Notes
- Keep the heat on low for a constant slow simmer. Having the stove temperature on too high will sear the outside which means you'll run the risk of burning and the sauce flavor won't penentrate through each ingredient.
- Use dehydrated mushrooms. Rehydrated dried mushrooms have a much stronger flavor than fresh mushrooms, which gives this dish a much earthier profile.
- Use fresh coconut water. Nothing beats fresh produce for a meal with less preservatives!
- We use two different types of tofu – fried and vegetable – which we get from Asian specialty vegetarian stores. These can be easily subsituted with just fried tofu.
- As for the other ingredients, they can be found at Asian supermarkets. If they are unavailable then you can simply replace it with mushrooms that are accessible to you.
- We use the vegetarian version of the Chinese oyster sauce, which we buy from our local Asian grocery store along with all of the other sauces.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on 07/07/20 and updated with new photos in August 2022.
Yummy! Many of these are new-to-me mushroom varieties. So delicious and flavorful.
They’re very delicious so I hope you get a chance to try them!
Wow so many amazing mushrooms in this dish! I can’t wait to give this a try.
Thanks, Nicolette! I hope you enjoy it!
Holy moly, this looks legit, making this soon!
Thanks, Janelle! Enjoy!
I have never had much luck cooking bean curd, but this looks perfectly cooked
The secret is it was already fried when I bought it 😉
This looks super yum, I love mushrooms.
Thanks! So do I!