FU RU - Fermented Tofu/doufu

[Bond Girl]

In Taiwanese, we called it dao-zu. I eat it with rice or plain congee made with water rather than stock.

I've always wanted to know, but have been afraid to ask until now. What is Taiwanese? Is this the language spoken in Taiwan before the Chinese arrived there?

If not, why isn't the language called Fujianhua or Xiamenhua? Or has it evolved so much in Taiwan that it justifies a new name? Just curious...

It's a derivative of Fujian-hua. I think it used to be a lot more similar but now it's very different. I can understand my fujian speaking friends but not completely. Lo-bak-kuo is a mixture of steamed taro, dried shrimp and rice flour right?

[Laksa]

dougery and Bond Girl,

you know what? I've been known to make mistakes - very often. When I said that my mum has a recipe for lo bak gou, I actually meant wu tau gou.

lo bak gou is made from radish, wu tao gou from taro. My mum's asleep, and 10,000 miles away so I can't ask her now. But here is a lo bak gou recipe, and a wu tau gou recipe I found on the Internet.

The wu tau recipe is a little fancier than my mum's. She doesn't put dried scallops, chinese bacon, or dried shiitake. I think this must be some fancy-schmancy city folk recipe.

[herbacidal]

lo bak gou is made from radish, wu tao gou from taro. My mum's asleep, and 10,000 miles away so I can't ask her now.

The wu tau recipe is a little fancier than my mum's. She doesn't put dried scallops, chinese bacon, or dried shiitake. I think this must be some fancy-schmancy city folk recipe.

Isn't lo bak turnip, not radish? And hence lo bak gou made from turnips?

[Ben Hong]

Lo bok is radish, at the very least it's more related to the radish than it is to the turnip.

[Laksa]

Isn't lo bak turnip, not radish?  And hence lo bak gou made from turnips?

Words can have so many different meanings it's a wonder we still use them to communicate.

What I meant was this, what I know as Chinese white radish, or daikon:

I think the turnip is this:

I think lo bak gou is more commonly made from the former, but the latter may be substituted.

[Dejah]

The wu tau recipe is a little fancier than my mum's. She doesn't put dried scallops, chinese bacon, or dried shiitake. I think this must be some fancy-schmancy city folk recipe.

These are two recipes that I use. Sometimes I have a heavy hand with fillings. Learned the hold back lesson when one of my attempts crumbled as I tried to serve it.

These savory cakes are good served hot from the steamer, cold or refried.

I will be making both for our international students year end picnic next week.

[Laksa]

These savory cakes are good served hot  from the steamer, cold or refried.

I will be making both for our international students year end picnic next week.

Now, I'm guessing the picnic invitations are strictly speaking going only to the international students? Just checking...

[Jeannie]

We mostly ate this with... not sure what the Cantonese or Mandarin pronounciation is, but it's "poh veh" in Shanghainese. Basically, leftover rice with boiling hot water added to it, to have as breakfast with leftovers from dinner, plus pickles, foo yu and pork sung on the side to jazz it up.

Pat

I know what you mean. I guess the mandarin would be "pao fan" but I don't think anyone else apart from the shanghainese eat this. I quite like it mixed with peanut butter.

Actually thinking about it, I think the mandarin for the rice gruel is "xi fan" I heard it mentioned as that when my mum was trying to describe what it was to our northern chinese friends

Are you from a Shanghainese background too?

Edited July 7, 2004 by Jeannie (log)

[hzrt8w]

I make Lo Bak Gou and Wu Tau Gou regularly. I call Lo Bak Gou "Turnip cake" as this name is used in most of the recipes. I always made turnip cake with the kind of turnips in the first picture. I am not sure if using radishes (in the second picture) to make turnip cake would taste good. You probably need a lot of them since they are so small. They probably are much more expensive too.

I looked at the recipe of Lo Bak Gou posted at About.com. I tried that method once (mixing raw turnips with rice flour, and then steam the mixture). The result was no good. The cake turned out very powder-like and I could not taste the turnip's sweetness. I have since learned the "keys" of making good turnip cake:

Key 1: You have to cook the turnips first before mixing it with rice flour. The way I make it: peel the turnips, then shred the turnips with a food processor. Cook the shredded turnip with some water until soft (about 20 to 30 minutes) over medium heat. Drain away the excess water to a bowl. Add white pepper and salt and sugar to taste. Use the excess water to dissolve the rice flour and corn starch (2-3 tsp), create a medium-thick batter. Pour the batter back in the pot with the turnip, continue to apply heat and stir until the batter/turnip mixture just start to boil. Add in the dried shrimps/black mushrooms/lap cheong/whatever you want to add flavor to the turnip cake. (Note that you should lightly fry the dried shrimp, black mushrooms, lap cheong before hand.) Transfer the mixture to a rectangular cake pan. Steam this mixture for about 30 minutes. The turnip cake should then harden. You may store this in the refrigerator up to a few weeks. When ready to serve, cut the turnip cake into 1/2 inch pieces and lightly fry over slow heat for 10 to 15 minute to slightly brown the skin. Serve with soy sauce.

Key 2: the ratio of turnip to rice flour. Too little rice flour, the cake will be very soft and fall apart easily. Too much rice flour, the cake will be hard and you cannot taste the turnip. My experience showed that the ratio of turnip to rice flour should be around 5 to 1 by weight. I used 2 to 3 lb of turnip, and 8 oz of rice flour. This amount will yield about 15 to 20 pieces of turnip cakes the size that you see in dim sum restaurants. How much water you use to dissolve the rice flour is also a key to making good turnip cakes. Too much water, the cake will not harden. Too little water, the cake will be too hard. You have to feel it. The batter mixture from turnip/rice-flour/water should be kind of like pan-cake batter -- just liquid enough to flow slowly. The recipes give you some idea to start, but you have to adjust.

The recipe for Toro Cake is almost interchangeable with the one for Turnip Cake. Just be careful that toro soaks up water quickly while cooking. You need to keep stirring the toro while cooking, and add water if needed, so it won't stick to the bottom of the pot.

[Laksa]

I make Lo Bak Gou and Wu Tau Gou regularly.  I call Lo Bak Gou "Turnip cake" as this name is used in most of the recipes.  I always made turnip cake with the kind of turnips in the first picture.  I am not sure if using radishes (in the second picture) to make turnip cake would taste good.  You probably need a lot of them since they are so small.  They probably are much more expensive too.

Actually, I think the second picture that I posted earlier shows what most Westerners would call turnip. The Western radish has a red skin and looks like this:

[Dejah]

These savory cakes are good served hot  from the steamer, cold or refried.

I will be making both for our international students year end picnic next week.

Now, I'm guessing the picnic invitations are strictly speaking going only to the international students? Just checking...

wongste: If you can make it...Wed, July 14, noon, Flora Cowan centre courtyard

I'll even take joong!

When I make wu tau go, I boil the taro with the skins on. When they are cooked and cooled, then I peel and cube them.

I have a hard time keeping my chopsticks out of the lobak after it is cooked, so I cook extra. Then I'd make some soup dumplings (tong yuen), add some sliced lapcheung, dried shrimp or dried scallop, cilantro, fresh black pepper, a side dish of sesame oil, chili and light soya

[Sleepy_Dragon]

I know what you mean. I guess the mandarin would be "pao fan" but I don't think anyone else apart from the shanghainese eat this. I quite like it mixed with peanut butter.

(...)

Are you from a Shanghainese background too?

Ah, I forgot about the peanut butter! And in particular, trying to eat it before it dissolved too much into the poh veh. A chunk of peanut butter picked up with chopsticks, then dunked into some pork sung, then shoveled into my mouth with a bunch of poh veh was my idea of heaven as a kid.

And yes, my parents are from Shanghai, though I'm US born. We were only allowed to speak Shanghainese at home, though nowadays mine is very rusty from lack of practice.

Pat

[dougery]

The lo bak gau (please pardon my earlier misspelling) I almost always have is steamed then pan fried. It is really crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. I'm sure it is exactly as you described but fried in addition. Is frying these a normal practice?

[hzrt8w]

The lo bak gau ..... Is frying these a normal practice?

Most dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong and in the U.S. serve Lo Bak Gou slightly fried. Though a few restaurants offer the strictly steamed version. When serving steamed Lo Bak Gou, they make the cake softer, with less rice flour.

[stephenc]

I bought about 5 jars of fermented tofu (packed in chili, salt, sesame oil).  I have been using this to exclusively marinade chicken in and then coat it with Panko and fry it.  I really haven't used it much beyond that. 

Does anyone have any traditional chinese dishes which utilizes this tofu?  Because of the salt content I'm sure it has quite a shelf life but does anyone know how long it would be safe for? 

Thanks

I eat it with rice porridge (shi fan).

It's strange and really disgusting actually, but I can't stop eating it

Edited July 8, 2004 by stephenc (log)

[dougery]

It actually sounds like you eat it in similar fashion to Japanese Natto (fermented soy beans). The beans smell bad, and are really disgusting to most people, but I love it.

These dishes are definitely acquired tastes.

[Laksa]

These savory cakes are good served hot  from the steamer, cold or refried.

I will be making both for our international students year end picnic next week.

Now, I'm guessing the picnic invitations are strictly speaking going only to the international students? Just checking...

wongste: If you can make it...Wed, July 14, noon, Flora Cowan centre courtyard

Was it that obvious that I was fishing for an invite? I have no idea where Flora Cowan centre courtyard is, but I'm guessing getting there may involve crossing timezones and international borders. So seeing that I can take an hour off for lunch... uhmm... let's assume there's light traffic on the roads... ok, I'll be there!

[dougery]

Really? Lo Bak Gau is made with Daikon not a turnip? I've always called them turnip cakes. So use Daikon in the recipe eh?

[Gary Soup]

Really?  Lo Bak Gau is made with Daikon not a turnip?  I've always called them turnip cakes.  So use Daikon in the recipe eh?

Daikon (lo bok, luobo) is often translated as "turnip" for westerners, but it's never actually turnip.

[dougery]

Now I'm confused. I always thought Daikon was a radish not a turnip.

[Dejah]

Now I'm confused.  I always thought Daikon was a radish not a turnip.

It is a radish, but the recipe in English is called Turnip cake

Is daikon not a Japanese term? I sometimes explain lo bak as a Japanese radish.

It has the heat and smell of a radish, especially when "repeated".

come with off shore products.

[dougery]

Yes, daikon is a Japanese term.

I checked a website and radishes are part of the turnip family.

http://www.uga.edu/vegetable/turnip.html

It's time to go back to turnip college!

[Gary Soup]

Now I'm confused. I always thought Daikon was a radish not a turnip.

It would probably be more confusing to use the correct term "radish" instead of turnip, since most Americans think of radishes as the red-skinned pungent variety.

Just be thankful it's not REALLY turnip (yuck).

[Laksa]

Inspired by this thread, we decided to cook two dishes with fermented soya products this weekend.

First, a grilled country style pork ribs in a foo yu marinade. The marinade comprises light and dark soy, shaoxing wine, sugar, garlic, some thai chillies, oil (light olive because they say it is good for my cholesterol), and of course foo yu.

I blended everything in the mixer and poured it on the ribs to marinade.

After 5 hours, it is on to the grill:

Now, it's ready to eat!

The second dish is grilled eggplant with a miso and honey glaze. Some Japanese vinegar is added to give the paste the right consistency.

Bang the gong, the battle is over!

[Dejah]

Oh Man! That looks SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD! I must try fo yu as a marinate component.

Whenever I've eaten in restaurants, they use a "sweet soya" on spring onion crispy chicken and cheung fun. Any suggestions on brands? I haven't found one yet