By Indrie Vijayanti – Thanks, Ms. Indrie!
Although originated from China, when arrives in Indonesia the tofu becomes so popular and unique. The old soft and square tofu has changed. In my village, for instance, there is spongebob tofu. Its shape is square like the naïve Spongebob Squarepants cartoon character. Only, it is not covered by any shirt and pants, but by the seasoned batter of flour.
Spongebob tofu is made from tahu sumedang (sumedang tofu). Have you tasted it before? It is delicious and crispy. Yummy! Trust me, the taste is different from the other tofus in all over the world. As the name, it comes from Sumedang, a city in West Java. The texture is soft inside and rather rough outside.
Actually, we can make another dish with this kind of tofu, such as gehu (acronym of tauge and tahu). Here, sumedang tofu is filled with tauge (bean sprouts) or other vegetables such as cabbage or carrot, then it is put in the batter of flour before being fried. Recently, there is gehu pedas a.k.a gehu lada (means spicy gehu). People adds chilly in it.
Sumedang tofu is also used in baso tahu, a kind of culinary made from tapioca flour mixed with some kinds of flavor and tenggiri fish. All is steamed. We eat it with nut sauce. Mm, delectable! It can be fried to, called batagor (fried meat-ball tofu).
Another kind of snack that is made from tofu is tahu bulat (ball tofu). It is unique because the shape is similar with a table-tennis ball. Round tofu comes from Tasikmalaya (some says from Ciamis). It is made from crushed white seasoning tofu. The texture is dry outside and soft inside.
There is also tahu gejrot from Cirebon. Oh yes, you should try brintik tofu. I think it is like kediri tofu. It has a different shape with sumedang tofu and round tofu. Brintik tofu has a form like a stick and crispy. However, there is also brintik tofu in square. You may eat it with mayonnaise or seasoning like barbeque, cheese, balado, etc.
That’s all I know (as a West Java citizen). I believe there are still many variations of tofu in Indonesia. You tell me.
Photos by Angel Wijaya
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The article actually misses the variety of basic Tofu in Indonesia, and focuses only on the role of Tofu in the Indonesian culinary. Compared to its Chinese origin, which has the same plain taste, at least from my own experience, but different texture (soft/firm/extra firm), Indonesian tofu has been enriched in different ways.
Tofu of Bandung, with salt and turmeric added, has yellow color and distinct taste. It can only be found in Bandung. It is just delicious without any additional seasoning. The best among Bandung tofu is made in Cibuntu. Also in Bandung, Yunyi Tofu, a twist of Chinese white tofu is on the list of tofu lovers. While Chinese tofu is typically part of complex cuisine to compensate for the taste, this tofu is just for tofu: fry it and scoop.
Sumedang Tofu is also on the list. In Tasikmalaya, the tofu tastes rather strange and has brittle texture, but surprisingly is the best choice for Kupat Tahu Tasik – the original kupat tahu (some big kupat tahu fans will not consider kupat tahu without Tasikmalaya tofu).
In Jakarta, tofu is unfortunately tasteless, and ketoprak peanut sauce does not really help adding taste to it. In the 1980s and early 1990s, my Mom used to soak it with salted water before using it.
In Sulawesi, tofu was made popular by Javanese tofu producers in the 1970s and early 1980s. Tofu there is white in color, and probably resembles that of central and east Java.
goreng tahu isi (fried filled tofu). i believed it can be found in all provinces of Sumatra. the tofu is a plain white tofu (different with the one in java i guess). then get fried till it became crisp on the outside but somewhat empty in the inside (somewhat like tahu sumedang). then the already fried tofu is filled with a mihun mix with veggies (or was it misua mix with veggies???… sorry forgot). then it’s dip in a flour paste and got refried… the tofu become chubbier then before, the skin become crispier, and the filling become tastier (imho even more than gehu..)
thanks to both comments. It’s really useful.