Know 3 Flavors, delicious dishes with a long history, in Mandarin known as "San Bei Doufu". Literally "San Bei Doufu" means three glasses of tofu. This name corresponds to the amount of sauce used to cook this dish (rice wine, sesame oil and soy sauce). Actually this dish is cooked with a main ingredient of chicken or shrimp. But you can also cook it in a vegetarian version using tofu instead of meat, where it can highlight the unique flavor of the tofu better.
Dishes from Jiangxi province in southern China but also popular in Taiwan have been presented to participants of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Origin of Know 3 Flavors

The story behind this dish began more than 800 years ago when the Chinese hero, Wen Tianxiang, was captured by the Mongol army under Genghis Khan. One of the soldiers felt sorry for Wen Tianxiang and offered the last dish to enjoy before he was executed. At that time the soldier only had chicken meat, wine, sesame oil and soy sauce in his hand. He also mixes all the ingredients in a big pot and cooks it on a fire. Unexpectedly, this dish became the most delicious dish ever tasted by Wen Tianxiang.
Traditionally, this dish (usually using chicken meat) is cooked in stone pots until the meat completely absorbs the flavors of the three sauces. This process takes a long time. But by replacing chicken meat with tofu, then cooking time becomes much shorter because it knows more easily absorbs spices.

Materials needed:

400 grams tofu (do not use silk tofu, choose tofu with a harder texture)
Handful of dried shitake mushrooms
2 grains of garlic
2cm fresh ginger
1 spring onion
3 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
Simple corn flour
3 tablespoons water
1/2 tablespoon chili powder (optional)
4 pieces of basil leaves

Preparation:

1. Take 4-5 grains of shitake mushrooms and soak in warm water overnight, or boil the mushrooms over low heat for 15 minutes until tender. Do not dispose of soaking water or frying water mushrooms, set aside for later use.
2. Cut the tofu into a 4cm cube shape.
3. Cut fine ginger. Geprak garlic.
4. Cut the leek with size 3cm.
5. Fried pieces of tofu using a lot of oil (make sure at least 1/2 parts know immersed in oil) to golden color while occasionally stirring.
6. After the tofu surface is golden and dry, lift the tofu and drain the oil.
7. Mix 3 tablespoons water with cornstarch sufficiently, mix well.

How to cook:

1. Heat 3 tablespoons sesame oil in a frying pan. Then enter the pieces of ginger, garlic and green onion. Saute for 1 minute (if you like spicy cuisine, include chili powder too).
2. Enter the shitake mushroom pieces and stir-fry back until the smell of mushrooms.
3. Enter the fried tofu pieces, mix well.
4. Add soaking water or shitake mushroom stew (make sure no sand is mixed up). Or you can replace it with plain water. Cook for a few minutes.
5. Add light soy sauce and dark soy sauce and 1/2 tablespoon sugar. Stir well.
6. Cook until the water is reduced to 1/2 part, enter the water corns while continuously stirring.
7. Finally, add the rice wine and 3 basil leaves.
8. Turn off the fire. Pour the tofu in a bowl and garnish with a basil leaf as a topping. Serve with a bowl of rice.