🍽️ Fenghuang Fried Tofu

Mountain-water fried tofu, crisp outside.

Fenghuang Fried Tofu is a snack of the mountainous Fenghuang town in Chaozhou, Guangdong, named for its spring-water tofu and the 'floating' frying method. Local soybeans are ground with mountain spring water and curdled into firm blocks; the blocks are lowered into hot oil, puffing up and 'floating' as the outside turns golden and bubbly while the inside stays tender. Crisp outside, silky within and rich with bean aroma, it is dipped in a garlicky brine or soy with cilantro, sometimes stuffed with fish-mint or chives. Fenghuang, in the northern hills of Chaozhou, has clean spring water that makes its tofu especially sweet. Locals buy a few pieces hot on market days and outings; the contrast of crisp and soft, with plain bean flavor, captures the home cooking of the Teochew uplands, and tea travelers to Fenghuang often try it too.