Somen Stuffed Tofu Pockets

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Every time I make these somen stuffed tofu pockets for a potluck, people always ask me for the recipe. It's a refreshing appetizer that looks gorgeous and labor intensive, but is actually really easy to make. And the great thing is that you can make it the night before a party to save yourself some time on the day of.

Some "specialty items" for this dish:

  • The tofu pockets are prepared seasoned bean curd called aburaage in Japanese. Asian grocery stores sell them in 10 oz cans that contain about 15 to 16 pockets in each can, and it's ready to use right out of the can. I usually have a couple of cans in the pantry cuz the shelf life is fairly long.
  • Kamaboko is a Japanese cooked fish cake that looks like a red or pink log on a wooden block. It's made out of surimi, a white fish meat paste-- the same stuff that is in imitation crab. Kamaboko can be found in the refrigerated aisles of Asian grocery stores, and is also ready to use/eat right out of the package.
  • The prepared seaweed salad is re-hydrated seaweed strips marinated with soy sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, garlic and ginger. I bought mine from Costco, but it does come in a 28 oz square plastic tub. If you want smaller quantities, you can find the prepared seaweed in the refrigerated deli section of your Asian grocery store, sold by weight. I've also sometimes seen them in the frozen aisle of Asian groceries packaged in 16 oz flat plastic bags labeled as "seasoned seaweed salad (super hiyashi wakame)". But basically, the prepared seaweed salad is also ready to eat out of the box/package.
Shelf stable canned seasoned tofu pockets

Kamaboko (steamed fishcake)

Prepared seaweed salad

Add seasonings to boiled somen noodles. Mix

Add kamaboko and seaweed salad

Mix and stuff into tofu pockets

The below recipe is adapted from Jean Watanabe Hee's "Hawaii's Best Pupu and Potluck" book, where I replace her Tropics Oriental dressing with a homemade sauce because it's hard to get a hold of Tropics brand oriental dressing here on the mainland. If you want to make these tofu pockets vegetarian, you can replace the kamaboko with cooked sliced shiitake mushrooms or an egg crepe cut into slivers, which, while not as pretty as kamaboko, the finished product is just as light and refreshing.


Yields 16 appetizers

Ingredient:

  • 1 can of seasoned fried bean curd (inarizushi no moto) 10 oz
  • 2 bundles of dry somen (japanese wheat noodles) 2 oz per bundle
  • 1 block of 6 oz red kamaboko
  • 16 oz prepared seaweed salad
  • 2 T sugar
  • 2 T sesame oil
  • 4 T sushi vinegar
  • 1 t salt
  • ½ t black pepper
  • 2 scallions chopped

Procedures:

  1.  Break somen noodles in half before cooking. Cook the somen noodles according to packaged directions. Drain and rinse thoroughly.
  2. Place cooked somen noodles in a large bowl. Add sugar, sesame oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper and toss to allow the noodles to absorb the sauce. Set aside.
  3. Cut the kamaboko into thin strips and add to the somen bowl.
  4. Chop the scallions and add to the somen bowl.
  5. Add the seaweed salad to the somen bowl.
  6. Mix everything really well. This is your somen salad.
  7. Stuff each tofu pocket with the somen salad. Refrigerate until ready to serve.