🍽️ Enshi Hezha

Tujia ground-soy stew, homely.

Enshi Hezha is a traditional home dish of the Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture of Enshi, Hubei, also called 'lazy tofu.' Soybeans are ground into milk without filtering out the okara; both the pulp and milk go into a pot with green vegetables, pumpkin leaves or radish greens, seasoned simply with salt, chili and mashed garlic. The result is yellowish-green, rich with soybean aroma, coarse yet mellow and brightened by the greens. It is a thrifty, practical Tujia home dish; in the past a big pot of hezha with corn rice carried families through the day, and today it remains a popular rustic dish at local restaurants. Ladled hot with broth over rice and a side of chili, it best conveys the simple, hearty food flavor of the Tujia people in the mountains.