15. 豆腐乳 (dòu fǔ rǔ) - Fermented Bean Curd (Tofu)
It is not just green vegetables that are pickled or fermented, of course. One popular condiment is 豆腐乳 (dòu fǔ rǔ), often shortened to 腐乳 (fǔ rǔ), or pickled tofu (Note: ‘tofu’ is from the Japanese name, ‘とうふ - tōfu ’, which they took from the Chinese, which is ‘doufu’.)
Cubes of tofu are first dried, then brined and fermented, along with various flavourings such as rice wine, vinegar and chilli. This is usually sold in glass jars. To be used as a condiment with such as rice, congee, etc., but can also be added to stir-fried dishes.
Spicy Fu Ru
Different brands of commercially produced furu vary in taste, but also in degrees of spiceness and texture. My preference is for this type, in which the tofu remains relatively firm.
Others can be softer.
Guilin, one of China's top tourist destinations (in better times), an hour north of here is renowned for its furu. About the only thing they sell in the small airport shopping area is presentation boxes of furu, sold for outrageous prices, of course. Find a small neighbourhood store and buy it there for a fraction of the airport price.
Note: The red colour in the image above is from chili oil. However there is a type of furu known as 红腐乳 (hóng fǔ rǔ), which is red from the addition of a red yeast, Monascus purpureus. Be suspicious of furu which is dayglo red - this has probably been dyed with red food colouring.
