Tofu
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For other uses, see Tofu (disambiguation).
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Tofu
豆腐.JPG
tofu block sold in markets from China to South East Asia
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 荳腐 or 豆腐
Simplified Chinese 豆腐
Hanyu Pinyin dòufu
Literal meaning bean curd
[show]Transliterations
Hakka
- Romanization teu55 fu55
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin dòufu
- Wade–Giles tou-fu
Min
- Hokkien POJ tāu-hū
Wu
- Romanization deu去 vu去 (Wuu Pinyin)
[dɤɯ.vʊ] (IPA)
Cantonese
- Jyutping dau6-fu6
- Yale Romanization dauh-fuh
Filipino name
Tagalog tokwa[1][2]
Japanese name
Kanji 豆腐
Hiragana とうふ
[show]Transliterations
- Revised Hepburn tōfu
- Kunrei-shiki tôhu
Korean name
Hangul 두부
Hanja 豆腐
[show]Transliterations
- Revised
Romanization dubu[3][4]
- McCune-
Reischauer tubu
Malay name
Malay tauhu
Tamil name
Tamil tahu
Thai name
Thai เต้าหู้ (IPA: tâohûː)
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese đậu phụ
or đậu hũ
or tàu hũ
Khmer name
Khmer តៅហ៊ូ
Indonesian name
Indonesian tahu
Tofu (豆腐, tōfu?), or bean curd[5] is a soft white food made by coagulating soy milk, and then pressing the resulting curds into blocks. It is of Chinese origin,[6] and part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese[7] and others.[8] There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu that has been processed in some way. Tofu has very little flavor or smell on its own, so it can be used either in savory or sweet dishes, and is often seasoned or marinated to suit the dish.
Tofu originated in Han dynasty in ancient China,[6] Li Shizhen in Ming Dynasty described the method of making tofu in Bencao Gangmu[9]. Tofu and its production technique were subsequently introduced into Korea, then Japan[10][11][12] during the Nara period, and Taiwan. It also spread into other parts of East Asia as well.[13] This spread likely coincided with the spread of Buddhism as it is an important source of proteins in the religion's vegetarian diet.[10]
Tofu is low in calories, contains a relatively large amount of iron and contains little fat. Depending on the coagulant used in manufacturing, the tofu may also be high in calcium and/or magnesium.