This recipe has been adapted from a healthy and helpful book authored by John and Jan Belleme entitled, "Japanese Foods that Heal". In addition to some healthy, healing recipes, each chapter details the history of the featured Japanese food, and notes the best preparation methods. Each recipe I've tried has been delicious! You can almost see your cells smiling when you fill your body with the foods known to heal!

1/2 oz of dried porcini mushrooms (Make sure your dried mushrooms are from the US)
1 lb extra firm tofu
1/3 cup unbleached, organic flour (or you can use a gluten free rice flour)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dried thyne
1/4 tsp dried rubbed sage
Scant amount of oil for browning the tofu
1/2 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 oz mushrooms, sliced (your choice of kind)
3/4 cup Marsala wine
3/4 cup porcini soaking water
1 tsp organic soy sauce
1 small bay leaf
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
4 T chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Soak the dried mushrooms in 1 cup lukewarm water for half hour. When you remove the mushrooms, save the soaking water. Chop the mushrooms and set aside.

Cut the tofu into 8 equal slices. Press the slices between paper towels and put something heavy on top to gently press out the excess moisture. (I put a large cookie sheet on top and put heavy books on the cookie sheet. You can also buy a nifty tofu press online for about $40.) Let sit for about 20 minutes or longer.

In small bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, thyme and sage.

When ready, roll each slice of tofu in the flour mixture. Make sure it is well coated. Set aside, but reserve the flour!

In a non-stick skillet, gently rub a scant amount of oil in the pan. Brown each tofu slice on medium high heat for about 3-5 minutes until golden brown. Do that on both sides. Then remove the browned tofu and set aside. (About now you're probably thinking, there are a lot of steps to this. Seems like a lot, but it's easy and goes fast! Trust me; this is good!)

Lower heat to medium, and saute the onion and garlic in a little water till soft. Add the porcini mushrooms, the sliced fresh mushrooms, a pinch of salt and pepper and continue sauteing for another 3 minutes.

Then add the 2 T of reserved flour, and sprinkle on the sauteing veggies, mix well and cook for another minute.

Now we're getting to the finish line......Add the wine, porcini soaking water, the soy sauce, salt and pinch of black pepper and the bay leaf. Simmer gently till sauce thickens.

Add the lemon juice to the pan, along with the browned tofu slices, cover the pan and heat on low for about 8-10 minutes.

If you want, you can add half of the parsley and simmer for another minutes. Remember to remove the bay leaf when ready to serve.

You can serve this with brown rice on the side or with some nice Thai or Chinese noodles. This dish is very tasty and healthy.