I decided the other day I’d be avoiding fetid tofu for the time being. In the mean time I’ve been trying to find ways to use furu.
I’ve asked around. Someone has suggested sticking it in cheesecake. It’s a bit like stilton, so I’m thinking about putting it in Broccoli soup. In Chinese cooking, it’s most commonly used as a flavouring in green vegetable dishes… just stir in a cube (or half a cube) into some stir fried beans, along with the usual flavourings.
I’ve also tried putting a cube on the side of my plate and nibbling bits with the rest of the food, like a pickle. It was pretty good.
I’m told people spread it thinly on bread. I tried it with Marmite but I think this was a bad choice with a hangover. The crazy salty sharp cheesiness made my headache twice as bad. I’ll try that again some time, in the afternoon, not for breakfast.
Someone I met from Hong Kong told me they used to eat deep fried furu from street vendors for breakfast on the way to school. I searched the web for clues about this dish but couldn’t find any. So, I tried deep frying chunks which were dipped in vegan tempura batter. Mmmm, greasy.
It was frankly a bit too intensely flavoured for me. But I might try it again some time. I can tell this is one of those things which goes from not-particularly-pleasant to addictive following repeated exposure, like olives or beer.
The batter worked great though. I’ve used the same batter before to coat banana slices, and then served them with whipped coconut cream and melted chocoate as a desert.
It’s basically twice as much corn flour as plain white flour, a decent pinch of baking soda, and some ice cold beer. The trick is not to add too much beer. It’s easily done and the batter doesn’t stick to the food you’re frying.
Incidentally, this was with the spicy furu in hemp oil. The really red stuff (”da kuai doufu“) which tasted lie miso is a nice all-purpose flavouring. I think it will work really well in a soup.
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