You can see the melted raclette in the middle. You can't see the scallions which means we should have added more.

<< Marymere Falls On Ice

02/03/09 - Deep Fried Tofu and Raclette We recently tried a rather improbable recipe for Fried Tofu Stuffed With Raclette Cheese. It was in Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook which we had bought, because we had enjoyed our meal at a Japanese pub in Honolulu, Izakaya Nonbei, some years back. The izakaya style of cooking tends to be informal and imaginative, but we had never seen any dishes made with cheese. Let's face it, Asia, unlike Europe, is not big on cheese. The recipe itself was easy. Just deep fry the tofu. Stuff it with scallions and raclette, then broil it until the cheese melts. The prunes were simple as well. Just dump them in a pot with red wine, a stick of cinnamon and simmer. The combination was incredible. Let's hear it for fried food and melted cheese, the glory of two continents combined in one great dish. The trick was to get a good, super-firm tofu. We went with the special 1950s stuff that was developed to take anything but a direct hit. We found that locally, but we had to get into Seattle for the raclette. It was worth it. To be honest, we've never had anything quite like this in any izakaya, but we'll be keeping our eyes, and mouths, open.

We deep fried the super-firm tofu in peanut oil. That's our Fry Baby in action. Then we cut a slit in the tofu, stuffed in the cheese and scallions and broiled them until the cheese melted.

Here are the simmered spiced prunes in red wine with cinnamon.

Keywords: food, recipe, kale