Deep-fried Tofu from Jiangle

Deep-fried Tofu from Jiangle

　　In my hometown, the rural area of Jiangle, many things throughout the year seem to revolve around the theme of “Chinese New Year.” To put it in a more down-to-earth way: everything centers around the kitchen, and around the “eating” for the New Year. For example, piglets are raised at the beginning of the year to be slaughtered as the “New Year pig” at the end of the year; sticky rice and non-glutinous rice are planted in spring to make fragrant glutinous cakes and steamed buns for the Spring Festival.

　　“Deep-fried tofu” is an essential and important task when preparing New Year goods in the countryside. Though just a small piece of tofu, it’s considered a big deal in my mother’s eyes. Our family is one of the larger households in the village—my father and uncle hadn’t yet divided the family property, so there were 11 mouths to feed in total. Every Spring Festival, making tofu at home would take up an entire day, requiring seven to nine pots of soybean milk. In preparation for this day, my budget-conscious mother had to do all the necessary planning in advance—like how much of the rice field ridges to use for planting soybeans, and how much tea seed oil would be needed, among other things.

　　When everything was ready, around the 23rd of the 12th lunar month, known as “the Kitchen God ascending to heaven,” it was the time when villagers concentrated on making deep-fried tofu. Making tofu is physically demanding work, starting with grinding soybean milk using a stone mill. The grinding speed must not be too fast, nor too slow. Too fast, and the soybean milk will have coarse particles; too slow, and you won’t be able to finish making seven or eight pots of tofu in one day, leaving no time to deep-fry it in the evening.

　　After the tofu was ground during the day, it was time for deep-frying after dinner. The tea seed oil used for frying was pressed around the Winter Solstice, bright yellow in color with a fragrant aroma. Normally, it’s not advisable to eat freshly fried foods like twisted dough sticks or glutinous rice balls, but deep-fried tofu is an exception. Villagers say that freshly fried tofu doesn’t cause excessive internal heat. When eating deep-fried tofu, you can place a whole piece in a large bowl, sprinkle it with fine salt, drizzle it with homemade rice wine and soy sauce, add a few slices of ginger, toss it all together a few times, and then—without chopsticks or a spoon—just wash your hands and eat the soy-sauce-dripping tofu as it is. The taste is incredibly wonderful and fragrant.

　　The golden pieces of deep-fried tofu are placed on a bamboo tray to cool and dry, and then stored in an earthenware jar the next morning. They’re pressed tightly with stones and kept in a cool corner of the wooden house, to be eaten from the end of the year through to the Lantern Festival in the first month of the new year. Even though, in the last few days, the fried tofu may start to develop a slight sourness, it remains a must-serve dish when receiving guests during the New Year period. (By Li Xuanhua)

　　Source: People's Government of Fujian Province