Homemade festival foods are treasures

It was during Chinese New Year several years ago when I discovered just how ambrosial tofu really could be.

As a longtime vegan, I've purchased and consumed hundreds, if not thousands, of packages of bean curd to grant me a certain expertise in the food. But nothing could have prepared me for the moment when I bit into that homemade fried tofu fresh from the wok. The crisp, golden surface gave way to a surprisingly rich, buttery flavor that elevated this humble food to the highlight of the evening's dinner.

But that moment was the culmination of days of work by my mother-in-law from rural Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, who also prepared the tofu she had fried from scratch.