Yesterday, while at the Ningxia night market, I worked up the courage to try stinky tofu. I found a vendor who was working on a big grill surface and brushing sauce onto skewered fried stinky tofu. The smell was much more mild than many of the other stalls I’d walked past, and she’d serve it up to me with Taiwanese kimchee. I figured it was my best shot at liking this classic dish.
The good news is that the tofu was hot, with a nice sauce and the outside was nicely fried. The kimchi was mild. Overall, it was a much more pleasant experience than I feared. But I confess that I didn’t actually like it. The tofu didn’t smell all that stinky, but it tasted stinky.
This may be an experience you want to have to say you’ve tried it, but I think it is challenging for a western palate.
The area around Mount Fuji and Lake Kawaguchiko was very chilly the night that we were there. After standing outside for 5 minutes we were looking for hot drinks and hot food to thaw us out. The local tourist information office recommended that we visit a restaurant serving Hoto, a dish from the Yamanashi Prefecture. I am so happy they did!!
Hoto is served in a huge cast iron bowl piping hot, and it is a soup made of miso broth and filled with lots of vegetables, hand pulled noodles, and aburaage tofu (twice fried). I especially liked the pieces of kabocha, a japanese pumpkin variety with a green, not orange skin, and a darker colored inside than a sugar pumpkin. I think I may need to find a recipe to make hoto at home later, since it is super filling, has lots of veggies, and is exactly what I crave on a dark winter day.
Travel, Food, Reviews, and (of course!) Tea
the mint tea drinkers society 