Teczcape-An Escape to Food

There are already a couple of recipes in this same website featuring yuba/ tofu skins/ tofu sheets. However, that does not stop me from visiting and improving older recipes, for example this classic Yuba Salad.


The main ingredient yuba and sesame oil-soy sauce based dressing stays the same; with new addition of enoki mushrooms, edamame, and generous topping of cilantro. Albeit how simple this may sound, these additions impart much more flavors and textures when combined together - making it such a deliciously addictive side-dish appetizer.

On a separate occasion, fresh tofu-beancurd skin/yuba were stuffed with enoki mushrooms to make Mushroom-Stuffed Tofu-Skin Yuba Rolls, perfect for this veggie bowl.


For vegetarians, omit the shredded chicken as the tofu skin rolls would suffice as plant-protein source. You can also make Yuba Salad which is much simpler compared to oven-baked rolls. I have actually made yuba salad many times, improving (and "perfecting") each time. 

Fresh tofu skins/ yuba are available in flat-sheets; they also sometimes manifest as tofu knots, like these pretty knots in Tofu Skin/ Yuba Knots Veggies Bowl.


Besides easy recipes e.g. Yuba Salad and Braised Yuba, these fresh tofu skin/yuba knots are often served as shabu-shabu style hotpot item - meaning they can be simply blanched before consumption, and enjoyed at their best natural soy flavors.

Soy/tofu skin, also known as yuba, is the "skin" (coagulated proteins) that forms at the surface of soy milk as the milk boils and cooks. Due to this process, yuba is a good concentrated source of plant-protein, calcium, iron and other essential vitamins and minerals. Tofu skin is available fresh and dried. Personally, I prefer the fresh ones and use them in these easy recipes e.g. Yuba Salad and Braised Yuba.

Today, this Easy Oven-Baked Tofu Skin Rolls is a fuss-free recipe that skips the deep-frying yet still allows you to enjoy toasty slightly crispy bean curd rolls.

An appetizer side-dish, this Chilled Fresh Yuba Salad can be easily prepared at home. It might be plain-looking, but with a simple dressing, the sweetness of pure soybean flavor shines through.

I have been ordering this item, without fail, in our weekend Taiwanese bento take-out (weekend is no-cooking-I-get-a-rest day). This single ingredient-item has many names to it: tofu skin, yuba sheets. It is not the first time I have eaten tofu skin (they are usually added as a component in a meat braise or in a vegetarian stew) but this store has it simply prepared: single ingredient tofu skin in a nicely seasoned (not overly salty or sweet) soy-sauce braise.  You might have expected hard-boiled eggs and/or tofu braised together but...no.


Perhaps this is why all the attention has been given to the tofu skin itself; and I started to enjoy it more than I thought I would. The tofu skins are braised whole (in sheets), the sheets are folded thick and substantial that one actually tastes "soybeans" with each bite.

I wanted to replicate the dish at home, and since it is only one ingredient, I wanted the best (good quality)! As they say, if you can find fresh yuba, you’re in for a treat (and it's true)! So, at the back of my mind, I was set to seek out fresh yuba, and not those easily available dried tofu skins found in the Asian supermarket. However, it was no easy task finding fresh yuba and they don't come cheap.