Editor’s note: The theme of Gohan Lab is to help people make simple, tasty “gohan” (meals).

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Think you know your tofu? What's the difference between “momen” and “kinugoshi” tofu? How heavy is a standard block of it?

Despite tofu being such a familiar item, the questions may stump you.

Our four-part series starting this week focuses on tofu that tastes good as is and is more savory when cooked.

About 90 percent of tofu is water, which many recipes require you to drain before you cook it, at which point you may wonder what's best, to pat it dry or microwave it.

What's important isn't how you want to adjust the water content but why you want to do so.

For this week’s fried tofu recipe, for instance, it's sufficient to cut the tofu up and put it in a sieve to remove the water on its surface since you want to retain the tofu's signature texture. Dusting the tofu with flour to eliminate moisture, however, requires a little care as shown in the Basic Cooking Method.

Three tablespoons of oil are adequate to coat a medium-sized frying pan. We chose to use a pan-frying method for this recipe using a small amount of oil for easy cooking. This way, you get to enjoy the fried tofu’s aromatic coating and flavorful sauce with little trouble in the preparation and few calories in the final dish.

JUST HOW HEAVY IS A BLOCK OF TOFU?

A “cho” (block) of tofu comes in various weights and shapes at the supermarket. Larger ones are about 450 grams while there are also sets of smaller 35- to 50-gram bits of tofu.

A nationally uniform standard for the size of a block doesn't exist, so says the Japan Tofu Association formed by tofu manufacturers and others.

In many cases, tofu in central Tokyo weighs between 300 to 350 grams while tofu in other areas tip the scales at 350 to 400 grams. In Okinawa, tofu is often sold in 1-kilogram blocks. In our series, the weight will be shown in grams.

The smoother silken tofu is suited for “hiyayakko” (chilled tofu with toppings), while the firmer momen tofu is good for cooking.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

(Supervised by Akiko Watanabe in the cooking aspect and Midori Kasai in the cookery science aspect)

 * Ingredients (Serves two)

300 grams firm “momen” tofu, 6 cm white part of green onion (naganegi type), bit of dried skipjack tuna shavings (katsuo-kezuribushi), 100 ml dashi stock, 1 and 1/3 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 and 1/3 Tbsp sweet mirin sake, some flour, 3 Tbsp oil

 About 260 kcal and 1.8 grams salt per portion

1. Quarter tofu by cutting across it and place in flat sieve (PHOTO A).

2. Prepare “shiraga (white hair) negi” by cutting length of green onion in half and slicing into fine strips. Immerse in water, rub with hands and leave for about 10 minutes. Pour dashi stock, soy sauce and sweet mirin sake in small pot and bring to a quick boil.

3. Spread flour in flat container. Pour oil in frying pan and place on low heat. Wrap a piece of tofu in kitchen paper to remove water, dust all sides with flour (PHOTO B) and place in pan immediately. Repeat the process for each piece.

4. Pan-fry while rotating to brown all sides (PHOTO C). Lift with chopsticks and ladle so oil drips and serve in bowl. Top with drained green onion and skipjack tuna shavings and pour sauce.

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Akiko Watanabe is a cooking expert specializing in Japanese cuisine.

Midori Kasai is a professor at Ochanomizu University and former chairwoman of the Japan Society of Cookery Science.

ARRANGED VERSION

Fried Tofu with thick sauce and ginger

Grate a piece (half the size of thumb) of ginger. Place 200 ml dashi stock, 2 tsp each of soy sauce, sweet mirin sake and katakuriko starch in a small pot and place on medium heat. Mix to thicken. Pan-fry firm tofu as in the main recipe, drain oil and serve. Pour sauce and top with ginger.

COOKERY SCIENCE

Firm tofu is made by adding a coagulant to set warm soymilk, laying cotton cloth in a mold with holes to drain water and filling it with the soymilk, pressing down with weight to drain water and form tofu cakes.

To make silken tofu, warm soymilk and coagulant is poured into a mold without holes and left to set. This way, the surface turns out smooth and the water content becomes about 3 percent higher than that of firm tofu.