Where does Buyei Stuffed Tofu belong to?

The stuffed tofu of the Buyei ethnic group in Lianshanwan, Libo is an ancient traditional food of the region and one of the best delicacies of the cuisine, with its unique shape, color, aroma and taste. Stuffed tofu is made of white tofu flower into a square shape slightly thicker than a matchbox, and then dug a pit in the middle to fill the filling and then fried into a beautiful form, tender meat, beautiful flavor, attracting many distant neighbors, but also many tourists came to feast on.

There is a saying in the local community: "If you don't have stuffed tofu for your guests, the host family is not sincere". This statement explains more about the weight of tofu in the hearts of the Buyi people. Indeed, stuffed tofu plays an important role in the local farmers' table, and its unique flavor is the main dish that is indispensable to the Buyi people when they have big banquets. Here you can always see, when there are foreign guests or tourists in the farmhouse dining, the first to eat is not meat, but the stuffed tofu, all said that the stuffed tofu here is soft and tender, fragrant and sweet, very tasty, go back to forget to bring a small bag as a souvenir.

Stuffed tofu production method is the ancient ancestors inherited handicrafts, its production process seems simple, but each link of the process needs to pay attention to the meticulous in place, without a certain technical expertise is not to do quality stuffed tofu. Therefore, in the area of Lianshan Bay stuffed tofu is not often. It is usually made by the farmer's housewife during festivals and celebrations.

The first step: choosing beans

Lianshan Bay is a place where soybeans and green beans are produced in abundance, and tofu is in plentiful supply. However, in order to ensure the quality of tofu, people are very careful when choosing beans, as long as they come across a lentil (not full of dead beans) or a gravel are picked out, to prevent "a screw playing a pot of soup". A pot of tofu usually uses 4 liters of beans. The sifted beans are soaked in water for 3-4 hours, then ground into soymilk using a stone mill, then boiled in a large pot and strained out of the dregs.

Step 2: Point the tofu.

The point of tofu is a very high level of skill, according to the farmers' custom is to use their own acid water point, point out the tofu is tender and firm, sweet and sour soybean flavor. If the technology is not enough how to point is not knot, often a pot of soybean milk is wasted. Some people to ensure that the tofu that point into the point with gypsum, gypsum tofu, although tender but lack of toughness, easy to break, can not afford the production of brewing tofu repeatedly tossed, its flavor and sour water brewing tofu compared to the obvious inferior.

The third step: pressure tofu.

Soymilk is cooked and degassed, and then you start pointing and pressing the tofu. Pointing tofu is in the cauldron in a certain direction of slight rotation, to be cohesion into a white cloud-like immediately after the stop, so that it is prohibited to continue to gather. After seeing the white cloud-like tofu brain knot tight water clearing it into a rectangular lattice wooden box, and then cover the pressure, to be dripping dry after the unlocking of the wooden box, printed with 10 equal parts of the convex mark of the large block of white tofu is complete.

The fourth step; flower tofu

One pot of tofu can be made into 10 squares of white tofu. First of all, one side of the tofu horizontal knife broken two, and then on the top of a vertical and two horizontal knives into the size of a matchbox slightly thicker than the twelve equal parts, and then neatly discharged in the dustbin. With small flat bamboo strips bent into a semi-circular shape, in the middle of the matchbox tofu dug out a small outside and large inside the round pit, in order to stuffing. You can't throw away the scraps of tofu you've dug out and wait for it to be pinched into a paste and used to cover the filling, turning waste into treasure.

The fourth step: make filling

The key to making filling is to choose a good meat. Selection of meat, do not just choose lean meat, lean meat more, brewing out of the tofu will feel coarse and old to eat. Pork is better, and not too greasy, eat and smooth and sweet and fragrant, very delicious. Selected meat, but also with other ingredients, commonly used leeks, garlic, scallions, peppercorns, etc., some rich families often with fish and shrimp, fungus, mushrooms, five-spice star anise, etc. (varies from person to person). After choosing a good material and meat mixed together to start chopping stuffing. Mince the filling generally use two kitchen knives at the same time, chopping, hands here and there, both speed and quality, until you are satisfied with the chopping.

Step 5: Stuffed tofu

Packed the chopped stuffing in a large bowl, with three fingers gently grabbed the right amount, stuffed into the tofu round pit, the action is gentle and gentle to ensure that the stuffing is stuffed with a full and tight, and the tofu is not broken and deformed. And so on to the need to stuff the tofu are filled with filling, with the scraps of tofu pinched into a lake, and then take the appropriate amount of the pit one by one to cover the smoothing can be.

Step 6: Fry the tofu

After the tofu is stuffed, start frying. First, use a wood fire to heat the pan, put a proper amount of vegetable oil, heat until the oil smells, then start frying the tofu (first put on the side with a cover). The tofu should not be moved around, but when it is lightly browned on one side, use a wooden spatula to gently loosen the surrounding area, move it from side to side, and then flip it over to the opposite side to be fried. In order to make the stuffed tofu both artificially aromatic and delicious, without losing its original flavor, usually only two sides can be fried.

Step 7: Boil the tofu

After the tofu is fried, there are rules about how to eat it. In order to make stuffed tofu fully absorb the filling of gravy and spices, to put cold water tofu, while the pot sprinkle some salt, sesame oil, peanut oil or a little soy sauce, etc., with a small fire slowly boil, when the water boils, you can enjoy the delicious flavor of fragrant stuffed tofu.

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