How to Make (And Use) 冻豆腐: Chinese Frozen Tofu

冻豆腐, or frozen tofu or sponge tofu, is a traditional Northern Chinese food commonly eaten during the winter. People would let tofu freeze outside overnight and then submerge it in boiling water the next day. The temperature difference would cause holes in the tofu to expand, giving it a spongier texture.

Frozen tofu is used a lot in hot pots and soup dishes, as the sponge-like holes allow it to soak up a lot of soup and flavor, which explodes in your mouth when you take one bite.

In this Instructables, you will learn a simple, easy way to make 冻豆腐!

• Firm tofu
• Ingredients for a dish of your choice. We opted for a seafood soup:
• Fish balls
• Crab sticks
• Shrimp
• Chicken stock
• Napa cabbage

TOOLS:

• Knife
• Large plate, preferably with a rim

Open the package of firm tofu and take out the tofu.

Wash gently.

Cut into big pieces, making sure every piece is at least 1 inch thick. This way, it won’t easily fall apart during the freezing process. You'll cut it further into smaller serving sizes later.

Ideally, we would leave it outdoors, as the evaporation would make the spongey holes bigger. However, we have a warm winter, so we will put the tofu in the fridge instead.

After a day, or when the tofu turns yellow, you can retrieve the tofu.

Add boiling water to the plate holding the frozen tofu OR boil water in a pot and place the tofu in. 

Wait until the center of the tofu is soft to poke through. The color should turn back to whitish.

Cut into your preferred serving size once cool.

You can now use this frozen tofu/sponge tofu to cook a variety of delicious dishes! Soups, hotpot, and stews are all available. 

To serve the seafood soup, heat the chicken stock on a stove. Whenever it starts boiling, add the next ingredient in. Add the ingredients in this order:

1. Fish balls
2. Tofu
3. Shrimp
4. Napa cabbage
5. Crab sticks

And serve!