Hiyayakko / chilled soft tofu with condiments

This simple tofu dish is a favorite of my father. For him, thinly sliced green onion and grated ginger are essential as condiments or toppings, and whatever is available in the garden -- including shiso perilla leaves and myoga Japanese ginger buds -- are sliced up and added in summer.

1/2 of recipe:
89 calories; 8.2 g protein; 4.9 g fat; 2.7 g carbohydrate; 1.9 g net carbs; 94 mg sodium (with 50% reduced-sodium soy sauce; 173 mg with regular soy sauce); 0 mg cholesterol; 0.8 g fiber



<Ingredients>

Kinugoshi soft tofu (235 g in photo)
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp dashi
For toppings
1 small knob ginger
1 green onion
Tiny handful kaiware daikon radish sprouts (10 g purple type in photo)
1 shiso perilla leaf


<Directions>
1.

Mix soy sauce and dashi.









2.

Cut tofu in half, and plate.









3.

Grate ginger.
Thinly slice green onion and shiso.
Cut kaiware in half.







4.

Top tofu with condiments.









5.

Immediately before serving, pour over soy sauce + dashi mixture.








<Notes>

• Good tofu is the key. Soft type is usually the common choice. No access to good tofu? Make your own!
• Straight soy sauce is normally used for hiyayakko; above, I diluted it with equal part dashi to be sodium savvy.
• Other common toppings include katsuobshi bonito flakes, shirasu dried young sardines, grated daikon radish and chopped okra.
• The sodium figure above corresponds to half the total amount of food served. The actual amount of sodium consumed is less than half of the total figure, as some soy sauce is left in the dish. Sodium intake would be lower when fewer toppings are used.
• Hiya in hiyayakko is from hiyasu [chill] and yakko implies tofu. When a similar tofu dish is served hot, it is called nukuyakko or nuruyakko [warm tofu].

(Last updated: August 10, 2014)