Ok, so for reasons I’ve alluded to in my last post, I’m trying to be animal-product free, at least until farmer’s market season starts, when I can be sure to get farm-fresh eggs.
It’s been a great challenge and I actually am feeling great. But being the adventurous sort that I am, I’ve gotten a bit tired of tofu, seitan, beans, nuts and nutritional yeast for my protein sources. (Well, that’a a lie. I’m still not tied of nutritional yeast. That on popcorn is like an addictive bag of cheetos, only less styrofoam-ish and without the dayglo color!)
And so… recently I found out about the virtues fu. How come no vegans ever mention fu? I found out about it from the Just Bento site, which isn’t even neccessarily vegetarian, (though healthy bent, for sure). Fu has about 1 gram of protein for every 15 calories. And NO fat. What are we waiting for?!? Let’s all get busy and start singing the praises of fu! Alert the skinny bitches for inclusion in Skinny Bitch 2.

Fun fu
So fu comes in many shapes and forms. When you find them in the grocery, you’ll notice that they actually have odd little names, reminiscent of anime characters, such as matsutake, chikuwabu and komachibu. It’s a great pantry staple, as it’s dried and just hangs out in there til you’re ready for it. One day you’re out of tofu and beans, you’re debating a trip to the grocery at some god awful hour, where you’ll have to resort to some late-night, corporate-stocked store, and just then your little buddies in the pantry speak up, having been waiting on the side lines for this, their savior moment: “hey, remember me? That dried-bread-looking stuff? It’s time…”
So you soak this dried-bread-looking stuff in water, just about 2 minutes is enough. You sort of squeeze it out then. And add it to stir fries or soups. That’s about it. It is essentially wheat gluten and has no flavor at all, yet it absorbs the flavors of whatever you cook it with, much like it’s dense cousin tofu, but even more absorb-y.

Not to be confused with TOfu
For instance, one of my favorite ways to cook it is to braise it in a mixture of soy sauce, mirin, garlic, chili paste (just a touch) and mushroom broth, and it ends up so flavorful!!! (And with a chewy sort of texture that will satisfy any flesh-gnawing urges.) I then add another couple of tablespoons of liquid and toss in some prepared rice*, a handful of greens, and mushrooms, simmer until all the liquid is absorbed, and then I have a steaming little exotic gourmet plate of low-fat, high-protein and high-fiber goodness. It’s an excellent, filling, and healthy meal in !Less Than 10 Minutes! In other words, a great thing to have in your repetoire if you are busy person in need of a quick protein source, such as myslef.

Happy fu, dancing in a pan
(they DO kinda shimmy as they simmer!)
Another quick meal with some fu protein added: Miso soup! Just boil a couple of cups of water or broth, add a little soy sauce, toss in some dried seaweed (I like wakame, myself, but the seaweed is of course entirely optional), possibly some bok choy or mushrooms (I love mushrooms, can you tell?), and add your fu for some protein punch. Toward the end of cooking (once the dried seaweed and Fu are fully reconstituted, about 5 minutes), remove the pan from the heat and take about a quarter cup of the broth and mash in your miso paste until well blended (fully boiling the miso kills off beneficial enzymes). Pour that miso concentrate into the cooling soup, along with a dash of sesame oil, if you’d like. The fu soaks up the flavor of the broth and miso and adds some interest and texture to this healthy soup. (I also like to spoon in some prepared rice*, to cool it off and complete the meal at the same time!)
(Well, maybe I blogged too soon about no vegans shouting out fu’s many attributes: I noticed that always inventive and inspirational SusanV has a version of Oden, using fu and root vegetables. This savory stew looks to be a scrumptious soup-fu combination, too! I’ll have to try that one next!)
So get to your nearest Asian grocery. Go snooping near the dried stuff, like the seaweeds and mushrooms. Chances are good you’ll find some fus to experiment with! Let me know what you come up with!
*Rice (a footnote - or foodnote?)
So I’ve long been a fan of Helen Nearing’s Simple Food book. Helen, along with her famous husband Scott, was a renowned “back to nature”-ist, well before hippies even existed. Helen’s book is a great collection of common sense advice and the most impossibly simple recipes of wholesome good sense. Sometimes with such vague details as “place in a hot oven,” so you’ve got to figure it out yourself, possibly through a ruined dish or two. From her basic recipe, and my own experimentations (as I found the cook times and proportions just weren’t working for me) comes my essential staple of Baked Rice. I make this rice on a Sunday and it carries me as a base for a few breakasts, lunches, and dinners throughout the week.
Crazy-Easy Baked Rice (from Helen to me to you)
2 cups short grain brown rice (or 1.5 cups short grain brown and .5 cups wild rice for a little extra crunch in your texture)
4 cups veggie or mushroom broth
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 to 2 teaspoons salt
1 to 2 teaspoons white or black pepper (or a combination of both - preferably fresh ground, of course)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (optional)
This is so easy, it might become a staple in YOUR kitchen: Simply put all ingredients in a casserole dish and cover. Cook for about 50 minutes to an hour at 350 and you’ve got this yummy rice supply to add to tofu scrambles, burritos (with beans), soups or stir fries… or Fu (see, full circle after all!).