Yuba. The film on top.
Posted on 23. Jan, 2008 @ 1:54 pm by harvey in Food
The Yuba experience.
The rectangular metal plan below contains a very fluid (having low viscosity if you will) liquid made from nigari (苦汁) and soybean milk, the same stuff that Tofu is made from. The yellow citrus on the right is a Yuzu.
The hotplate is heated slowly so that the liquid does not boil should rarely bubbles at all.
After it has heated for a while, a thin film will form on top of the liquid. This is called Yuba. You can work your chopsticks around the edge of the pan to break the film free of the sides. Then…
You gently pull up, and out comes the yuba! It’s very thin, so you can repeat the process more than a dozen times before you reach the end of the soybean milk and nigari. There were 6 of us at the restaurant, and we were able to enjoy the yuba right up to the end of our meal. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get another yuba film ready, so it serves as a way to pace the meal to let everyone enjoy the conversation. It’s really a great experience! Just don’t burn your wrist on the side of the pan while digging out the yuba… like I did.
You dip the yuba into a soy sauce, and fine grated yuzu peel before eating it.
Grating the yuzu is fun. As is pulling up the yuba. A fun and delicious meal! What more could you ask for?
Once you get near the end of the meal the waitress will usually come in to ask if you want to continue eating yuba right down to the bottom fo the pan, or if you want to turn the remaining yuba into tofu.
I’m actually not sure what is done to turn the remaining yuba mix into tofu. Maybe they add more nigari? Maybe they turn up the heat so it all solidifies? Maybe both? My wife doesn’t know either. I’m sure the internet does… But I’m too lazy to check
Places that serve Yuba will usually have an entire menu of yuba related items. The picture below is one of those, some Yuba soup.
Just curious, has anyone ever eaten Yuba outside of Japan?
Yum…
- Harvey
10 Responses to “Yuba. The film on top.”
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lina
Jan 23rd, 2008
at 17:13
we buy them in the dried form. didn’t know you can do eat it at the same sitting!
Grace
Jan 23rd, 2008
at 21:27
That is so exciting! :D No, seriously. I’m really into food that I think is fun and/or interesting. For some reason I feel like I’ve heard of it before or had it, but I can’t recall when/where/whether or not I’m making it up…
Joe
Jan 23rd, 2008
at 23:09
Yuba is a delicacy…don’t waste it by turning it into ordinary tofu!
Passed by a yuba restaurant the other day that listed a “Yuba Steak”. Would love to try that someday…
joe k
Jan 24th, 2008
at 01:05
never had it outside of japan.
i read an interesting thing about how a solar cell manufacturer (maybe kyocera, but i can’t remember) makes ultra-thin cells using the same process as making yuba.
2k56
Jan 27th, 2008
at 11:50
we have yuba in malaysia… usually with curry.
harvey
Jan 29th, 2008
at 08:46
Hey 2k56, is Yuba in Malaysia considered a Malaysian dish? What’s the name?
Atreya
Jan 30th, 2008
at 12:27
We have something similar in India. Its called Basandhi and its a North Indian Sweet made using the film and milk (not soybean milk).
Zaty
Feb 1st, 2008
at 00:49
yeah, m’sians do eat them.. tho it’s called by a different name (commonly called ‘pucuk’ here)
i love it. it’s usually served in soups here. =D
Jeff
Sep 9th, 2008
at 19:40
You bet, i was fortunate enough to visit a yuba factory in kyoto: http://jaguth.livejournal.com/3529.html
Goddess Carlie
Feb 24th, 2009
at 09:02
Huh! I’ve never heard of that before. it sounds awesome, I would love to try it.