Red-Braised Wheat Gluten (Shui Kao Fu)

Name: Red-Braised Wheat Gluten (Shui Kao Fu)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 500 g Wheat gluten (rinsed in water, squeezed dry, torn into small pieces by hand); 200 g Bamboo shoots (peeled and sliced); 100 g Shiitake mushrooms (soaked until soft, halved); 250 g Dried tofu (each piece cut diagonally into 3 pieces); 25 g Dried daylily (soaked until soft); 30 g Wood ear mushrooms (soaked until soft); 2 g Ginger (sliced); 2 g Sesame oil; 3 g Star anise; 85 g Soy sauce; 15 g Cooking wine (likely Shaoxing wine); 5 g Sugar; 1 g White pepper powder (originally noted as "Hu La Fen"); 1 g MSG (monosodium glutamate); 80 g Cooking oil (for deep-frying the wheat gluten and stir-frying)

Traditional Zhejiang red-braised gluten dish, made by braising fried gluten with assorted vegetables for a rich, savory sauce.

50 min

Easy

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Ingredients

Wheat gluten (rinsed in water, squeezed dry, torn into small pieces by hand) 500 g

Bamboo shoots (peeled and sliced) 200 g

Shiitake mushrooms (soaked until soft, halved) 100 g

Dried tofu (each piece cut diagonally into 3 pieces) 250 g

Dried daylily (soaked until soft) 25 g

Wood ear mushrooms (soaked until soft) 30 g

Ginger (sliced) 2 g

Sesame oil 2 g

Star anise 3 g

Soy sauce 85 g

Cooking wine (likely Shaoxing wine) 15 g

Sugar 5 g

White pepper powder (originally noted as "Hu La Fen") 1 g

MSG (monosodium glutamate) 1 g

Cooking oil (for deep-frying the wheat gluten and stir-frying) 80 g

Instructions

Fry the wheat gluten

Rinse the wheat gluten in water, squeeze out the moisture, and tear it into small pieces by hand. Heat the oil until about 80% hot, add the torn wheat gluten, and deep-fry until golden. Lift out and drain off the excess oil.

Prepare the supporting ingredients

Peel and slice the bamboo shoots. Soak the shiitake mushrooms until soft and halve them. Cut each piece of dried tofu diagonally into 3 pieces. Separately, soak the dried daylily and wood ear mushrooms until soft.

Red-braise

Add oil to the pan. Add the shiitake mushrooms, dried tofu, bamboo shoot slices, dried daylily, and wood ear mushrooms, and stir-fry. Finally add the fried wheat gluten, drizzle in the cooking wine, then add the soy sauce, sugar, white pepper, MSG, sesame oil, ginger slices, and star anise. Add water and simmer over medium heat until the sauce reduces and dries up. Drizzle with sesame oil before serving.