Black Bean Tofu Recipe — Casa Adora, Nearly Lee Kum Kee Style

A black bean tofu recipe built on homemade Nearly Lee Kum Kee sauce — garlic, ginger, spring onions, firm tofu, courgette, carrot and red pepper, served over pearl barley cooked ahead and reheated for resistant starch. Fast, vegetarian, Cantonese-style. The weeknight dish the tofu collection needed.

Black Bean Tofu — The Cantonese Tradition

Black bean tofu recipe is not a new idea. Firm tofu in a fermented black bean sauce is a staple of Cantonese home cooking — simple, fast, deeply savoury. The fermented salted soybeans — douchi — do the heavy lifting, bringing an intensity that is hard to replicate with anything else.

At Casa Adora, the douchi comes in the form of Nearly Lee Kum Kee black bean sauce — made in this kitchen from Diamond fermented salted black soybeans, garlic, ginger, Shaoxing rice wine and dark soy. It is the same sauce that goes into the Chicken in Black Bean Sauce. Here it does the same job with tofu, and it does it well.

The pearl barley underneath is not traditional. It is, however, one of the better things you can eat — particularly when cooked ahead, cooled overnight, and reheated before serving. That process increases its resistant starch content significantly, feeding your gut bacteria rather than spiking your blood sugar. More on that in the Resistant Starch Recipes hub.

Black Bean Tofu Recipe — The Recipe

Ingredients — serves 1

• 150g Mori-Nu firm tofu, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1½ tbsp Nearly Lee Kum Kee black bean sauce
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1cm fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 2 spring onions, sliced — white and green parts separated
• ½ medium courgette, cut into half-moons
• 1 small carrot, cut into thin batons
• ½ red pepper, deseeded and sliced
• Pinch of chilli flakes
• 100ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 tsp potato starch mixed with 1 tbsp cold water
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Soy sauce to taste

For the pearl barley:

• 60g pearl barley, cooked ahead and cooled overnight

Method

The pearl barley — Cook the pearl barley according to the packet the day before. Drain, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight. Before serving, reheat in a small pan with a splash of stock or water until warmed through. This is the resistant starch step — cooling and reheating increases the resistant starch content significantly.

Prepare the tofu — Remove from the pack, pat dry with kitchen paper and cut into 2cm cubes. Set aside.

Cook the vegetables — Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a wok or heavy pan over high heat. Add the carrot and red pepper first — they need the most time. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring. Add the courgette and the white parts of the spring onions. Cook for another 2 minutes until everything is beginning to colour at the edges. Remove and set aside.

Build the sauce — Add the remaining oil to the pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli flakes. Cook for 30 seconds until fragrant — don't let the garlic brown. Add the black bean sauce and stir for 1 minute until the oil darkens and the kitchen smells extraordinary.

Bring it together — Pour in the stock and stir. Add the tofu cubes, nudging them gently into the sauce. Return the vegetables to the pan. Simmer for 2 minutes.

Thicken — Give the starch mixture a stir and add in two stages, stirring gently, until the sauce coats everything in a loose, glossy gravy. Taste and adjust with soy sauce.

Serve — Spoon the reheated pearl barley into a bowl. Ladle the black bean tofu over the top. Scatter with the green parts of the spring onions. Eat immediately.

TFC Notes

The tofu: Mori-Nu firm is shelf-stable, available online, and handles this dish well — low water content means it holds its shape in the sauce rather than breaking up. No pressing needed.

The black bean sauce: Nearly Lee Kum Kee is the heart of this dish. Make a jar ahead — it keeps in the fridge for two weeks and earns its place across the whole black bean sauce strand.

The pearl barley: Cook it the day before. Cool it. Refrigerate it. Reheat it before serving. That sequence is the resistant starch step — and it takes no more effort than cooking it fresh. The full science is in the Resistant Starch Recipes hub.

The vegetables: Courgette, carrot and red pepper are what this kitchen had. Any combination of firm vegetables works — the principle is staggered cooking times, harder vegetables first.

The heat: A pinch of chilli flakes in the sauce base. This is a mild dish — Cantonese rather than Sichuan. If you want more fire, add a teaspoon of your fermented chilli sauce with the black bean sauce.

Stock: Vegetable stock keeps this fully plant-based. Chicken stock adds depth — use whichever suits.

Triple 30: Plants in this bowl — soy (tofu), black beans (douchi), garlic, ginger, spring onions, courgette, carrot, red pepper, chilli, pearl barley, olive oil. Eleven plants in a single weeknight dish.

On the road, I make a ten-minute campervan version.
This black bean tofu recipe is part of my Tofu Recipes, Black Bean Recipes, and Veggie & Vegan collections. It also features in my Veg, Fruit & Pulses hub.

Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef