Kaufu?

My daughter had a delicious vegetable stir-fry made with some spongy
brown tofu called 'kaufu' at her Chinese friend's place. Her friend's
mom said that 'kaufu' was available at normal stores, but I have not
been able to locate any. Does anybody know if this is called by any
other name? Or if it can be made from normal store-bought tofu packed in
water? Will be grateful for any leads here. I do know you can get
spongy tofu by first freezing and then thawing the tofu, but my daughter
said kaufu's texture was totally different.

Thanks,
Kamala.

Gesundheit.

--Blair

Kamala Ganesh said:

My daughter had a delicious vegetable stir-fry made with some spongy
brown tofu called 'kaufu' at her Chinese friend's place. Her friend's
mom said that 'kaufu' was available at normal stores, but I have not
been able to locate any. Does anybody know if this is called by any
other name? Or if it can be made from normal store-bought tofu packed in
water? Will be grateful for any leads here. I do know you can get
spongy tofu by first freezing and then thawing the tofu, but my daughter
said kaufu's texture was totally different.

It's wheat gluten (sometimes called seitan in the Asian markets).
Specifically, baked spongy gluten. Also sold as Yakifu in
Japanese markets.

It's "Kao Fu", BTW. Fu means gluten in both Japense and Chinese.

It's also been used (incorrectly) to refer to tempeh.

-sw

Steve Wertz said:

It's wheat gluten (sometimes called seitan in the Asian markets).
Specifically, baked spongy gluten. Also sold as Yakifu in
Japanese markets.

It's "Kao Fu", BTW. Fu means gluten in both Japense and Chinese.

I might be wrong about that last part, but I've found more info on
it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seitan

It's usually the main ingredient in those canned "Champion"(sp?)
vegetarian dishes in the Chinese markets (blue/white cans).

-sw

Steve Wertz said:

Kamala Ganesh said:

My daughter had a delicious vegetable stir-fry made with some spongy
brown tofu called 'kaufu' at her Chinese friend's place. Her friend's
mom said that 'kaufu' was available at normal stores, but I have not
been able to locate any. Does anybody know if this is called by any
other name? Or if it can be made from normal store-bought tofu packed in
water? Will be grateful for any leads here. I do know you can get
spongy tofu by first freezing and then thawing the tofu, but my daughter
said kaufu's texture was totally different.

It's wheat gluten (sometimes called seitan in the Asian markets).
Specifically, baked spongy gluten. Also sold as Yakifu in
Japanese markets.

It's "Kao Fu", BTW. Fu means gluten in both Japense and Chinese.

It's also been used (incorrectly) to refer to tempeh.

-sw

Wow, you are right, I just found it at Uwajimaya(our Asian chain in
Portland, OR) after asking the cook at their deli.

It never struck me it could be wheat gluten. I asked the mom of my
daughter's friend(she only speaks a smattering of English) about the
dish and I gathered wrongly it was some type of prepared tofu. I have
never eaten seitan, so maybe, I will have to try it, especially after my
daughter raving about it.

Thanks a lot, Steve.

This is from the Uwajimaya website :
Types of Gluten:
Kau Fu (Chinese). Spongy with the appearance of partially cooked bread
dough, kau fu is most commonly used in braised dishes.
Kohana Fu (Japanese) Colored and shaped to look like flowers, this dried
gluten is sprinkled onto Japanese dishes.
Matsutake Fu (Japanese) Flavored with mushrooms and baked, matsutake fu
is added to soups and sukiyaki.
Mein Jin Pau (Chinese) These deep-fried gluten balls are golden in color
and are added to soups and hot pot dishes.
Nama Fu (Japanese) This “raw” gluten is rarely used in this form.
Seitan (Japanese) Although seitan originally referred to gluten cooked
in a particular manner, today seitan is used almost interchangeably with
gluten in many vegetarian products.
Yaki Fu (Japanese) Grilled gluten cubes.

- Kamala.