Sixty years ago, Kamesaburo and Tsuruko Uyehara took over a friend’s tofu factory. The small shop on Dillingham Boulevard became Aloha Tofu, which over half a century later continues to provide Hawai‘i with superior tofu. The Aloha Tofu Cookbook, featuring Peko Nishimura with contributions from Misa Uyehara, will prove to you that tofu can be so much more than the white cubes floating in miso soup; it can be tossed in a hearty salad, stuffed with ginger and pork, or blended and frozen to make ice cream. In addition to the sixty recipes, which are presented in English and Japanese and accompanied by mouth-watering color photos, there are instructions for draining excess water from tofu, making dashi, and ensuring that cooking oil is the right temperature for deep-frying. Because tofu can be prepared so many different ways—baked, grilled, sautéed, deep-fried, or even eaten raw—its culinary possibilities are virtually limitless.

Author: Peko Nishimura