Silken Tofu with Mushrooms and Bonito Flakes

Original recipe by: Leslie Brenner

This recipe was inspired by Century Egg with House Tofu, a mind-blowing dish at Fat Mao, a restaurant in Vancouver, Canada. The dish stars incredible house-made tofu and quartered century eggs — blanketed with cilantro leaves, sliced scallions and fried shallots and dressed with “black garlic sauce.”

Century eggs, in case you’re not familiar with them, are a Chinese delicacy made by preserving eggs in an alkaline solution and ash — which renders the yolks intensely flavorful (funky! stinky!) and the whites gelatinous. The whole thing has serious umami. Clearly the fabulous century eggs are the point of Fat Mao’s dish, but I really loved the whole vibe: the tofu, the sauce, the herbs, the crunchy shallots, and yes that century egg. Still, I thought if I could come up with an easier-to-make, perhaps less intimidating analog for the egg, I’d have a pretty exciting recipe.

I found the analog …