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Century Egg and Cold Tofu (Chinese Appetizer) 凉拌皮蛋豆腐

Name: Century Egg and Cold Tofu Chinese Appetizer 凉拌皮蛋豆腐
Prep time: 2 min
Cook time: 3 min
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1 Block of Silken Tofu or Firm Tofu; 2 to 3 Century Eggs (preserved duck eggs); 1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce or Steamed Fish Soy Sauce; 1 tsp Sesame Oil; A handful of Finely Chopped Green Onions; A handful of Fresh Cilantro, rough chopped; 2 tbsp Dried Pork Floss, optional

Sep 20, 2022 · 46 Comments

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凉拌皮蛋豆腐 Century Egg and Cold Tofu is a classic Chinese dish that is refreshing, simple and requires no cooking. Sliced Thousand-year egg paired with silken tofu and garnished with coriander leaves, fresh spring onions, and sometimes pork floss is an explosion of different textures. Make this childhood favourite in just 5 minutes!

CENTURY EGG COLD TOFU CHINESE APPETIZER 凉拌皮蛋豆腐

Tofu and Century Egg Salad is an easy dish to serve as a cold appetizer on a hot summer's day. Its creamy texture and unique blend of flavours make this comfort food a distinctive dish, a popular diner food, and enjoyed by many households.

> In This Post: Everything You'll Need For Century Egg Cold Tofu Salad

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> In This Post: Everything You'll Need For Century Egg Cold Tofu Salad
Ingredients and Substitutes
What Is Century Egg?
Instructions
What To Serve With
> Recipe
Century Egg and Cold Tofu Chinese Appetizer 凉拌皮蛋豆腐

Ingredients and Substitutes

Century Egg
Organic Silken Tofu, Firm Tofu
Light Soy Sauce or Steamed Fish Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Cilantro or Finely Chopped Green Onions
Dried Pork Floss (optional)

What Is Century Egg?

Century Egg (皮蛋 Pídàn) are duck eggs preserved in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, rice hulls and quicklime. They are not really thousand-year-old eggs. Century eggs take about 4-5 weeks to make.

You do not need to cook century eggs. Break away the layer of century egg mixture, peel away the eggshell and give it a good rinse. Enjoy it like a hard-boiled egg. No cooking is required.

Modern production methods individually pack each Thousand Year Eggs with the rice hulls layer removed from the egg shells.

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Fermented duck eggs are alkaline, not acidic. The transforming agent, alkaline salt, gradually raises the pH of the eggs to around 9 to 12 during the curing process.

What Does Century Egg Taste Like?

If this is the first time eating century eggs, you may be surprised that the egg whites transform into translucent jelly thru the chemical process—preserved duck yolks to a greyish-dark green colour with a creamy consistency.

The taste of century eggs is rich and savoury with intense umami flavours. Its complexity, mouthfeel, and aftertaste are sometimes difficult to describe. A good reference would be cheese and its aged taste.

As preserved food, century eggs do not need to be refrigerated if unopened. However, after opening, they can keep their freshness in an airtight container for up to 2 to 3 days.

How To Tell If Century Egg Is Bad

A good rule of thumb is that if the Century Egg smell bad with a powerful scent of ammonia and the yolk is hard, do not eat it.

Also, try the float or sink test. Drop the eggs in a water bowl, and if they float, they've gone off. If they sink straight to the bottom, the eggs are still good!

Types of Thousand-Year Eggs

This interesting food was discovered over 600 years ago in Hunan, China, during the Ming Dynasty in China.

There are two types of Century Eggs.

Pine Flower Egg (松花蛋 Sōnghuā dàn) - The snowflake patterns on the surface of the egg white look like pine branches. Pine Flower Eggs are higher quality century eggs.
Candied / Sugar Hearts (糖心皮蛋 Táng xīn pídàn) - These century eggs with a soft gooey yolk center are my favourite!

One of my favourite ways to enjoy Century Eggs is to add them to rice porridge with shredded salted pork. Salted Pork Congee with Century Egg is the ultimate comfort food that lowers heatiness.

You can buy century eggs and salted duck eggs at your local Asian grocer or supermarket.

Instructions

Open and drain the tofu block.

Place the whole tofu block in a large shallow serving dish.

Choose whether to slice the tofu into 1-inch squares or cubes or serve whole for this Century Egg with Chilled Tofu recipe. It is entirely up to your preference. Set aside.

Break away the layer of century egg mixture of rice hull and clay, peel away the eggshell and give it a good rinse.

Add chopped century eggs or sliced century eggs on top of the tofu.

Next, drizzle light soy sauce, steamed fish soy sauce and sesame oil on top of the tofu and century egg salad.

For this particular recipe, I usually do not add Chinkiang black rice vinegar, oyster sauce or sugar to my sauce.

Garnish a handful of green onions finely chopped or cilantro.

Add shredded pork floss if you please.

Enjoy and serve cold as an appetizer.

What To Serve With

Preserved duck egg and tofu salad is a distinctive cold dish. It goes great with lots of home recipes

Other Easy Recipes With Century Egg

Mash Century Egg and Salted Pork Congee
Century Egg and Pickled Ginger

The strong flavours are addicting! These are just a few easy recipes immediately come to mind as excellent pairings!

Serve this century egg tofu next time you want an Asian appetizer or cold side dish. Your guests will think it's from their favourite Cantonese restaurants.

I'd love to see how you went with my tofu with eggs recipes! Leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram @INSTANOMSS #INSTANOMSS.

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