Don't Fear The Bean Curd

Being a vegetarian in China, I'm relying pretty heavily on soy for my protein these days. But it’s cool, because they do everything you can imagine with soy here. In the fresh food section of the supermarket you can buy tofu (豆腐, dòu fu) in several styles: there’s the basic white medium-firm tofu like you see in the west; extra-firm sliced tofu that’s been marinated and smoked; tofu that's been rolled into a fat little sausage while it's still fresh and then marinated and smoked; plain or marinated semi-dried tofu that's made in big flat sheets, which you can cut into strips to make some damn tasty low-carb noodles; tofu cubes that have been deep fried until they go puffy and have a chewy texture; spongey tofu sold in round, flat, pancake-like slices; and tofu that's been aged for a richer flavour and a chewier texture. I’ve even seen soft tofu sold in tubes - I have no clue how you’d eat it, but I think you squeeze it into hotpot to make noodles or something. I’ve also seen what appears to be tofu cut into shapes that resemble prepared squid, likely also for hotpot.

And tofu is but one humble speck in the glorious bean curd galaxy. There are tons of equally delicious soy products that can’t really be classified as tofu. In the dry goods you can get bean curd that's been made in flat sheets and then dried in densely rolled tubes, meant to imitate a nice chewy chunk of beef tendon when reconstituted and stir fried or added to hotpot. Delicious, chewy bean curd skin (豆皮, dòu pí), which is made with the skin that forms on top of soymilk while it's being boiled, can be bought dried in sheets, sticks, and cute little bowties. A wide variety of seasoned dried tofu (think tofu jerky) can be bought in regular or snack-sized vacuum sealed packs. In the ready-to-eat section of the supermarket, which is totally awesome despite being completely un-foodsafe and a really good way to get sick, you can buy all the above varieties of tofu prepared a million different ways with various combinations of veggies, meats, noodles and seasonings: spicy tripe and bean curd skin salad, bean curd faux tendon with green beans, tofu noodles with long strips of seaweed, sliced tofu sausage and lotus root, etc...so much fun just to walk around and look at.

And that's not all. The snack shops sell a super-soft fresh tofu, very tricky to eat with chopsticks, which you eat dipped in a mixture of chillies, oil and salt. Another one of my favourites is tofu pudding (豆腐脑, dòufu nǎo, lit. “tofu brains”), a super-soft tofu with a gorgeous light, silky texture, which I’d previously only eaten Hong-Kong style chilled and topped with ginger-flavoured syrup. The local style is completely different, though – served warm, and, like everything else they eat here, topped with chillies, Sichuan peppers, preserved vegetables, salt and green onions. Semi-dried, marinated and seasoned tofu (香豆腐, xiāng dòufu) can be bought on skewers from the snack shops and street vendors.

Another popular street snack is the infamous stinky tofu (臭豆腐, chòu dòufu), tofu that's been fermented in some kind of yeasty brine until it has an ungodly reek that you can follow for blocks. Last week, after passing by several times before and chickening out, I finally bought a bowl of stinky tofu from a street vendor by my school. And it was delicious - fried golden and chewy on the outside, soft and fresh on the inside, and smothered in chillies, Sichuan peppers, cilantro and green onions, with a generous sprinkling of salt. The smell and flavour are somewhat reminiscent of a strong cheese and the flavour is actually quite mild, nowhere near as strong as the smell. It's surprisingly palatable; as long as you didn't tell them what they were eating, the chilies would probably put more people off than the tofu. Even my super picky roommate liked it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely be making it a part of my snacking repertoire.

These are only the things I’ve discovered in a short time here, with my untrained eye and limited Chinese. I’m having so much fun discovering the infinite possibilities of bean curd, I've decided to launch a bean curd mission: I’m going to sample as many types of bean curd as I can get my hands on. Guess this means I'll have to try those scary preserved tofu cubes you buy in sticky dust-covered jars in the emptiest aisles of the Chinese supermarkets...

Chinese lesson of the day:
素食者
sù shí zhě
vegetarian