Soy Chicharron Recipe - Viet World Kitchen (2024)

I didn’t come up with this idea. It belongs to Seattle-basedradio show host Dick Stein. When we met up in September to tape an interviewfor KPLU, Dick said that after reading and cooking from Asian Tofu, he was inspired to buy dried tofu skin and deep fry it.The result was soy chicharron, Dick said.

You can do all kinds of amazing things with tofu skin, whichdespite its name is really the film that forms on hot soymilk. The Japanese call it yuba and the Chinese know itas doufu pior fu pi (tofu skin); in Vietnamese, tofu skin is called dau hu ky.You have likely had it at dim sum or on a Viet ride plate as a dumpling wrapper to encase a paste of shrimp; the recipe for those fried shrimp tofu skin rolls (xia fu pi juan) is on page 182 in Asian Tofu.

There are many kinds of tofu skin and basically, they differ in howdried they are. If you’re interested in extra details, I posted a tofuskin primer earlier this year and tofu guru William Shurtleff justpublished an online history ofyuba.

Dick’s tofu skin chicharrones used sheets of dried tofu skin– sold at Chinese and Vietnamese markets near the dried mushrooms. Get a flatpackage that contains the yellow pieces of tofu skin. Then get ready to fry up the skin into sparkly pieces.

The skin fries up like an Indian pappadum. No wonder, both are made from legumes.That means that it’s fast (less than 20 seconds) and easy frying (little oil isabsorbed). Be organized. Additionally, once you get the hang of it, you canbend and roll up the fried tofu skin to form arty, crazy shapes. I fried arectangular-ish piece and used chopsticks to roll it immediately after I pulledit from the oil. The result looked like a pipe and reminded tme of a deep-friedscroll of yuba that I had at a Japanese iazkaya in New York.

After frying all the tofu skin pieces, I sprinkled on lotsof fine sea salt to season them. The bubbly crisp pieces were ethereal and delightful to munchon. If you prefer to garnish with them, by all means go for it. They willsoften quickly once exposed to moisture so I’d just top foods with it at thelast minute. This evening, we broke up pieces of the tofu skin chicharron and dropped them into bowls of hot soup. They added a nice chewy texture and richness.

RECIPE

Soy Chicharron

Yield: enough for 3 to 4 people to snack on

Ingredients

• 2 sheets dried tofu skin, each about the size of
  a manila envelope
• Canola oil, for deep-frying
• Fine sea salt

Instructions

1. Break the tofu skin sheets into pieces about the
   size of the palm of your hand. Set aside. Put some paper on a baking sheet for
   draining.
2. Heat about ¾ inch of oil in a wok or deep
   skillet to 360 to 375F (180-190C). Fry each piece of tofu skin, sliding it into
   the hot oil. Use chopsticks in one hand and a skimmer or slotted spoon in the
   other hand to turn the tofu skin over (if needed). The tofu skin will bubble
   wildly and turn opaque yellow before darkening and becoming translucent.
3. Drain on paper towel and repeat the frying for
   the remaining tofu skin pieces. Sprinkle with lots of salt and eat. The tofu skin chicharrones
   can be fried hours in advance and kept at room temperature.

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