enjoy "dòu huā" / Dao Fu Fa / Tofu Flower at hom

Available at:
Golden Pacific Market
5353 N. Broadway
773-334-6688
$.99 for.. 14oz? in the fridge section near the tofus. can't quite remember the portion. made in Chicago.

this of course, in response to the thread here:
on various tofus

lockergnome.com wrote:At the other extreme, the extra soft tofu can be served as a Chinese dessert called doufuhua (Chinese: 豆腐花, literally: tofu flower, dòufuhuā 豆腐花 n. jellied beancurd), which is more commonly known as douhua (豆花). In Taiwan, douhua is served with toppings like boiled peanuts, azuki beans, cooked oatmeal, tapioca, mung beans and a syrup flavored with ginger or almond. During the summer, douhua is served with crushed ice; in the winter, it is served warm.

I didn't see this @ Richwell the last time I was there. Quite frankly, I was surprised... Now if I can find stinky Tofu in this town, my soul will be at ease in this city

best lil dou fua stand in Flushing, Qns, NYC (note the white horizontal sign with red letters):


Chaozhou lady diggin' deep for fresh dou hua:


Fresh Dou hua goodness with boiled peanuts and gingery sugar water:

TonyC,

In the pi dan tofu thread I wrote:When I mentioned liking "Dao Fu Fah," a Chinese colleague informed me that Chiu Quon bakery sells it. Just go there in the morning - it is a breakfast food. She also let me know that she had heard that Captain's bakery that's across the street has better. So I did a little scouting - went last evening to Captain and was told they only have it on weekends. At Chiu Quon, they had one (the last one) right then - but I had the warm fresh stuff on my mind so I said I'd come back in the morning. A teeny container of fairly thick syrup comes with it, but I asked and it was not the gingery kind.
Before going to bed then I boiled some water with some ginger and sugar.
This morning at 7:45 we were at Chiu Quon and picked up two tubs of Dou Fu Fah ($1.25 each!).

Still warm, soft custardy goodness with a "gingery kick".


My wife says she could have this for breakfast every day.
Thanks TonyC!

I do intend to sample the fare from Captain on Saturday for a comparison.

Chiu Quon Restaurant
2242 S. Wentworth Ave.
773-927-2288

As an update, which is more apropriate here, I tried the Dao Fu Fa from Captain bakery and Cafe on Sunday. I went in at 7am, but it wasn't ready yet (I should have called ahead I suppose). No matter, my wife and I were happy to have some tea and some BBQ pork buns (just rolled out and still on the cart) and steamed spare ribs while we waited ("half and hour" we were told). Twenty minutes later, a man walked out of the kitchen with big steaming tub. We got two orders to go in styrofoam containers, same size as the one from Chiu Quon pictured above, but much more generously filled.
We were rather full but back home we did taste it and it was "fluffier" than the Chiu Quon version. We finished it this morning.
This may become a weekend breakfast tradition - at least for a while.

Captain Cafe & Bakery
2229 S. Wentworth Ave.
(312) 225-8883



What "stinky tofu" are you reffering to? If it is the fermented soy beans, then natto is available at Mitsuwa.

You can get stinky tofu at the food court at Di Ho market in Westmont. It's a long hike from the city, but it's there. I think Ken Kee had it at one point in time though. I don't see it on the menu, but it might be a special on the wall...

Is Taiwanese stinky tofu much different from Thai fermented tofu? If not, they have some good stuff, albeit in jars, at Thai Grocery.

JeffB wrote:Is Taiwanese stinky tofu much different from Thai fermented tofu? If not, they have some good stuff, albeit in jars, at Thai Grocery.

Jarred fermented (stinky) tofu is easily found in most Asian groceries.



Enjoy,
Gary

The stinky tofu TonyC is referring to (I think) is a deep fried square of tofu that has this really nasty smell... Like old gym socks... Served with sweet sauce, mustard, sometimes pickled cabbage...

It smells worst than it tastes really... Check this out

Gary and Crazy: that's what I thought. I'm trying to understand what we are missing in regards to stinky tofu: a restaurant serving it, a source of "fresh" made, or what. Tofu remains a mysterious subject for me. I used to think I hated it entirely when my experience was limited to grocery store tofu and '70's health food fad tofu. Tofu skin, fried, fermented, and marinated tofu has changed my opinion radically.

CrazyC wrote:The stinky tofu TonyC is referring to (I think) is a deep fried square of tofu that has this really nasty smell... Like old gym socks... Served with sweet sauce, mustard, sometimes pickled cabbage...

of course Charlotte knows. so.. what she said
now, the fried stinky tofu is NOWHERE, as you can obviously imagine, as stinky as the 'steamed' stinky tofu. the steamed ver is now commonly touted as a 'Taiwanese' dish, tho I'm unsure of its origins (perhaps simply SE China). this version is so rare in the US even googling only yields 11 hits. Beyond LA/SF, I've heard there's a joint in Flushing, NY that serves it, but i never actually sampled it myself.

The Westmont fried stinky tofu (the first Chinese shopping plaza i visited after moving to CHI) is a friggin travesty. It doesn't smell bad (or is that good?) and tastes worse. overfried, possibly overfrozen. complete lack of moisture, wrong dressing. someone stop me.

as far as 'fermented tofu', indeed, i do have my own jar which the chica refuses to touch:

sazerac: so glad you and the wifey have found more venues to explore this. i've found it incredibly hard to actually get people addicted to this and only posted this thread after reading your post on Chiu Quon. i will now go pat myself on the back...