Fried Chicken With Fermented Tofu 腐乳炸雞

Chinese food is one of the most popular cuisine in this country. According to a recent survey, more than 70% of Australian households now own a wok, have stir fries at home or Chinese takeaway at least once a week. Despite its popularity, few people rarely venture out of the "soy and oyster sauce" safety zone.

Once covering her nose in disgust when I opened a bottle of fermented tofu, my friend K is now a convert after being introduced to my braised chicken with ginger, fermented tofu and wood fungus. Like its more popular cousins soy and oyster sauce, fermented tofu (腐乳, fu ru in Mandarin and fu yee in Cantonese) also adds the umami flavour so prized in Chinese cooking to any chosen dish.

If you love cooking Chinese food and want to broaden your horizon, why not pick up a bottle of this wonderful condiment and try out this Cantonese classic soon? This can be served as part of a Chinese meal or as a snack with a few drinks on a balmy summer evening.

P.S If you are able to find fermented red rice, you might also want to give the crispy chicken spareribs marinated with fermented red rice and fermented tofu a try too.

serves 2 to 4 as part of a Chinese meal
you'll need;
500 g of chicken spareribs or chicken wings
2 cubes of fermented bean curd with some of the liquid from the jar
2 tbs of oyster sauce
2 tbs of light soy
1 tbs of Chinese cooking wine
dash of sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, grated
3 cm knob of ginger, grated
rice flour for coating
oil for frying

Place fermented bean curd together with the rest of the seasoning, grated garlic and ginger in a large bowl and mix well.

Marinate chicken with the above marinade for at least an hour or overnight.

Coat chicken spareribs with rice flour, drench of access and set aside.

Heat up about 1.5 cm of oil in a frying pan and fry chicken in batches until golden and crispy.

Drain well on absorbent paper and serve as part of a Chinese meal.