This was no sea kelp!!!
I recognized it as "kao fu" (烤麸), something I had seen at the dinner table but once in my life. If I recall correctly, my mom had tried to get me to try some and I had refused like a little brat.
The texture reminded me of frozen tofu because it is spongy. (which makes it a high risk to pop it in your mouth when it is soaking with hot liquid-but that is another story). Anyway, seeing it there and then filled me with curiosity as I never quite learned of its taste so I decided to take it with me (for 3.14 kuai)
At home, I wasn't entirely sure what to do with my new plaything (which according to whoever wrote it on wikipedia, is called "baked spongy gluten" in English).
I'd found a recipe that resembled the dish I'd seen that fateful day but wasn't quite sure how to cut it.
Here's a tip: Boil first, cut later. I learned the messy way.
Here's what I made ^^
"Honey Braised" Kao Fu
100 grams baked gluten
½ cup peanuts
10 grams black wood ear fungus
5 grams shiitake mushrooms
10 grams dried daylilies
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Minced ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1½ tablespoons dark soy sauce
½ teaspoon light soy sauce
1 clove
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1.Soak wood ear fungus, daylilies and shiitake mushrooms in a bowl of water until softened. Cut mushrooms into bite sized slices and set aside.
2.Place gluten and peanuts in a pot, add just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, remove gluten (using chopsticks or something) and continue to boil peanuts for about 15 minutes(it takes a while for them to become soft, just add more water when needed).
3.Place gluten in cold water, then squeeze dry and into bite sized cubes.
4.Heat oil in a pan and fry the gluten until slightly browned and crispy. Remove gluten from pan.
5.Heat oil in pan, add ginger and fry until fragrant. Add fungus, lilies, mushrooms and stir fry for 1 minute. Add gluten pieces and peanuts. Then add 1/2 tablespoon sugar, soy sauce, cloves and water. Bring water to a boil and reduce heat. Add the remaining sugar. Cover and braise for 20 minutes until it is no longer watery. Turn off heat and drizzle in sesame oil.
Notes:
-This dish is normally eaten cold but eating is warm is nice too
-I read on a Chinese site that the cloves are used to give the dish a hint of a honey-like taste. They can be replaced with a star anise.
-Mine didn't turn out completely authentic because you're supposed to really deep fry the gluten in step 4, I just can't quite bring myself to do it ><. Also I didn't have daylilies so I had to use enoki mushrooms instead
I've found kao fu to be a pretty versatile ingredient. You can use some in a stir fry with your favorite vegetables to add protein to the dish...which is what I did with my leftover ones.
Mixed Vegetables Stir Fry with Kao Fu
1 block kao fu
1 bamboo shoot, sliced
1/2 a broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 a carrot, sliced
3 green beans, cut into 4 cm pieces
1 piece black fungus, sliced
1/2 a tomato, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
goji berries (optional)
1. Soak gluten in boiled water until softened. Squeeze dry and cut into bite sized chunks. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok. Add garlic and tomato and stir well. Add veggies and gluten all at once. Add some goji berries too, if you like. Stir fry for 3 minutes, pour in stock and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and cook vegetables until tender but slightly crisp. Add oyster sauce, soy sauce and sprinkle with pepper. Stir well and cook for another minute before serving.
More kao fu information:
Kao fu is made by leavening raw gluten. It's high protein and low sugar, low fat.
100 grams of kao fu amounts to 121 calories, 20.4 g protein and 0.3 grams fat.
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