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Tofu


liuzhou

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tofu.jpg

 

Whatever you call it - Tofu, Beancurd, 豆腐 (dòu fǔ, dau6 fu6), Đậu phụ, 두부, etc. it's a lot more than just that wobbly white stuff you see above. There are literally dozens of kinds. Here are some pictures. I will add more as I see them.

It would also be nice to discuss uses and ideas for using tofu.

ftp.jpg

Fried Tofu Puffs

 

fz.jpgFried Bean Cream Skin Rolls

 

dlc.jpg100-Layer Tofu Cake

 

st.jpgSmoked Tofu

 

dd.jpgDried Tofu

 

fst.jpgFive Spice Dried Tofu

 

tr.jpgTofu Roll

 

ts.jpgTofu "Noodles"

 

wdt.jpgWhite Dried Tofu

 

Furu.jpgSpicy Fermented Tofu (Furu)

 

More to follow...

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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I was at an Asian market and saw tofu shaped as rolled up ribbon about 1cm wide and very thin with a scalloped edge, each roll was about 3cm in diameter and there were maybe ten rolls in a pack. Does anyone have an idea how these are usually cooked?

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I was at an Asian market and saw tofu shaped as rolled up ribbon about 1cm wide and very thin with a scalloped edge, each roll was about 3cm in diameter and there were maybe ten rolls in a pack. Does anyone have an idea how these are usually cooked?

 

Frequently in Chinese stores on the same shelves they have items which may look like tofu, but they have nothing to do with tofu. They are various items made with gluten .

 

dcarch

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Can you give more infos about this, please? I tried a quick google search but didn't finf anything. Thanks.

 

 

 

Teo

 

百叶豆腐 (bǎi yè dòu fǔ) is a semi-dry variety of tofu which is made in relatively flat sheets, which are then layered together and compressed to extract more moisture and set it into a 'cake'.

The cake is sliced and used in stir-fries or in hot pots etc.

 

(Google has little on it in Chinese either,)

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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I was at an Asian market and saw tofu shaped as rolled up ribbon about 1cm wide and very thin with a scalloped edge, each roll was about 3cm in diameter and there were maybe ten rolls in a pack. Does anyone have an idea how these are usually cooked?

 

Not something I've come across, but I'd guess they are used in hotpots.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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The "wobbly white stuff," when frozen and thawed, can be turned into an acceptable substitute for ground meat in red sauce or chili.

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The "wobbly white stuff," when frozen and thawed, can be turned into an acceptable substitute for ground meat in red sauce or chili.

 

Frozen/thawed tofu is a very popular addition to hotpots. I've never come across it in any 'ground' form; it is usually sliced before adding.

 

I have some in my freezer right now. The freezing changes the texture and appearance, giving it a honeycomb look.

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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Frozen/thawed tofu is a very popular addition to hotpots. I've never come across it in any 'ground' form; it is usually sliced before adding.

 

I have some in my freezer right now. The freezing changes the texture and appearance, giving it a honeycomb look.

 

When I use it, it's not ground per se, but I chop it into chewy little bits of wonderfulness.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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shio koji fermented tofu is quite unique. It's made by fermenting tofu with shio koji for a few weeks first it turns into a hard sliceable cake then it turns creamy and it is sweet and salty. You can do the same thing with a combination of miso + sake + sugar. Left in the refrigerator for a month it turns into something like parmesan cheese and as it changes the texture is unique.

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I'd love to try the fried tofu puffs and the spicy fermented tofu. The stuffed tofu looks intriguing, too. What is it usually stuffed with? Oh yeah, I"ll take some smoked tofu, too.  What about the stinky tofu? Is it an acquired taste?  Is it really all that stinky? That 100-layer tofu cake is really beautiful.

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On 8/16/2015 at 1:53 PM, SusieQ said:

I'd love to try the fried tofu puffs and the spicy fermented tofu. The stuffed tofu looks intriguing, too. What is it usually stuffed with? Oh yeah, I"ll take some smoked tofu, too.  What about the stinky tofu? Is it an acquired taste?  Is it really all that stinky? That 100-layer tofu cake is really beautiful.

 

The stuffed tofu is usually stuffed with ground pork mixed with some kind of green vegetable. It varies.

Stinky tofu stinks, yes. When I lived in Hunan province, the town had only one street where it was permitted. You could smell the street blocks away. Stinky tofu is banned on SHanghai's metro system.

 

The taste is rich and creamy and bears no resemblance to the smell - a bit like durian or some cheeses. I took to it immediately. Getting it past my nose and into my mouth was an effort the first time, but once there I was hooked.

 

There are different varieties. The one pictured is Changsha Stinky Tofu and that is what I first ate - in 1996 in Changsha, in what I was told was Chairman Mao's favourite tofu stinky shop. But then Changsha also had Mao's favourite DVD store etc.

 

Here, I buy it on the street from this woman.

changsha%20choudoufu.jpg

 

Here is the tofu cooking (and draining)

 

cd.jpg

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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Frequently in Chinese stores on the same shelves they have items which may look like tofu, but they have nothing to do with tofu. They are various items made with gluten .

 

dcarch

 

Without seeing it, I can't comment on what Lisa has encountered, but there are certainly a number of products purporting to be tofu, which aren't. Here are two from my local convenience store.

 

nottofu1.jpg

 

Instant tofu? A contradiction in terms. In fact, it's just a soy bean milk product.

 

nottofu2.jpg

 

This is a popular snack "food". 鱼豆腐. Fish Tofu!

Apart from sounding somewhat unappealing, it isn't tofu in any way, shape or form. It has 26 different ingredients (mostly food additives: preservatives, anti-oxidants, colouring etc.) but not a hint of tofu. It does contain a little soy bean protein.

 

豆 (dòu) means 'bean' and 腐 (fǔ) means 'rotten' or 'putrid'. Tofu is fermented. Neither of these products contain anything fermented.

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nentofu.jpg

嫩豆腐  nèn dòufu

 

Apart from the Flower Doufu in post #4, this is the softest of the white wobbly type.  Very soft. As you can see, it breaks up if you look at it too hard.

 

laodoufu.jpg

老豆腐  lǎo dòufu

 

This is the next in terms of firmness. It is still soft but, if handled reasonably carefully, maintains its shape when sliced or cubed.

Here it is in a dish of 麻婆豆腐 mápó dòufú, the Sichuan classic.

 

These two batches of tofu are now sitting in my freezer. Tomorrow, I'll show you what happens when you freeze it!

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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I would like to add on tempeh, popular in Indonesia and Malaysia.It is similar the Chinese tofu but is harder,  

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempeh

My name is KP Kwan. I am a pharmacist turned restaurateur who lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I have worked in my restaurant more than ten years and since year 2012.

 

I am also a food blogger.  You can read my blog at http://tasteasianfood.com/

I am looking forward to learning and contributing topics about culinary skills in this forum.

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nottofu2.jpg

 

 

 

豆 (dòu) means 'bean' and 腐 (fǔ) means 'rotten' or 'putrid'. Tofu is fermented. Neither of these products contain anything fermented.

nottofu1.jpg

The etymology of the word "tofu" is interesting, considering that fresh tofu is not a fermented product. I wonder if in the past, tofu was fermented post-production as a matter of course to preserve it?

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AS I said, 豆 (dòu) means 'bean' and 腐 (fǔ) means 'rotten' or 'putrid'. It is easy to imagine a batch of soymilk coagulating and being considered to have 'gone off', hence 'rotten' or 'putrid'.

A lot of tofu is fermented. Again, this probably first happened accidentally, but the fermentation resulted in a new desirable product.

Many foods which are preserved now were originally done so to see people through winter. We have no need off that now, but we still eat bacon, ham etc.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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AS I said, 豆 (dòu) means 'bean' and 腐 (fǔ) means 'rotten' or 'putrid'. It is easy to imagine a batch of soymilk coagulating and being considered to have 'gone off', hence 'rotten' or 'putrid'.

A lot of tofu is fermented. Again, this probably first happened accidentally, but the fermentation resulted in a new desirable product.

Many foods which are preserved now were originally done so to see people through winter. We have no need off that now, but we still eat bacon, ham etc.

 

Soy sauce?

 

dcarch

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