January 5, 2013

Kuruma Fu Fries (Cutlets)/車麩のフライ(カツ)

Kuruma fu is very popular here in the Uonuma region of Niigata, and it's a great source of protein.  It is often used in nimon (nimono in standard Japanese).  Kuruma means wheel, and fu is wheat gluten.  Thus, kuruma fu refers to a wheel-shaped fu product.  Shown below is a cheaper, pre-cut kuruma fu.
車麩(くるまふ)は新潟の魚沼地方ではとても一般的な食材で、素晴らしいタンパク源です。にもん(標準語では、煮物)によく使われます。車とはwheelのこと、麩とは小麦のグルテンのことで、従って、車麩とは車の形をした麩製品のことです。次の写真のは安い、カットした車麩です。
Before I came here in Niigata, I was familiar with tiny kazari (decorative) fu only, so I was a little surprised when I first saw kuruma fu.  Now I like kuruma fu very much.
新潟に来る前は、小さな飾り麩しか知らなかったので、初めて車麩を見た時は少し驚きました。今では、車麩が大好きです。

As part of supper tonight, I made kuruma fu fries (cutlets), in addition to hito kuchi katsu (one-bite cutlets).
今日の夕飯には、一口カツの他に車麩のフライ(カツ)を作りました。

I used twelve pieces of pre-cut kuruma fu.
カット麩を12個使いました。  
I soaked them in bowl of water to reconstitute.
水を入れたボールに入れ、戻しました。
Ten minutes or so later, I squeezed them lightly.
10分ほどしてから、軽く絞りました。
Then, I dusted them with a mixture of flour, salt, and pepper.
次に、小麦粉、塩、胡椒を混ぜたものを付けました。
In a bowl, I mixed two eggs, some water, and the flour left in the bag.
ボールに、卵2個、水を少し、袋に残った小麦粉を混ぜました。 
I breaded 12 pieces of fu, as well as 41 pieces of pork.
お麩12個と豚肉41個にパン粉を付けました。
I first deep-fried the fu at 180C for 2 min., 6 pieces at a time.
最初に麩を180Cで2分、6個づつ揚げました。
Then, I deep-fried the pork at 180C for 3 min., 8 pieces at a time.
次に豚肉を180Cで3分間、8個づつ揚げました。
I only got this amount of egg solution left.
卵の液はこれだけしか残りませんでした。
I pan-fried it with no oil.  This pan cake is eaten in much the same way as okonomiyaki.
油なしでフライパンで焼きました。これはお好み焼きのようにして食べます。
The tonkatsu were good as usual, but my children didn't like the kuruma fu fries very much.  I myself didn't find them particularly good.
豚カツはいつも通り美味しかったですが、子供たちは車麩のフライはあまり好きでないそうで、私自身も特別美味しいとは思いませんでした。

Kuruma fu has other uses.  For example, you can make French toast with it.
車麩は他にも使い道があります。例えば、フレンチトーストもできます。

Edited to add:
The kuruma fu in Niigata differs from that in Okinawa in that the former is multi-layered and is usually pre-cut into thin slices, whereas the latter is single-layered and is long and tubular.
追記:
新潟の車麩は、層を成しており、通常薄く切ってありますが、沖縄のくるま麩は一層で、長い筒状です。

9 comments:

  1. I have neer heard of kuruma fu. Very interesting!
    By the way, I have recently seen a fascinating documentary about Jiro Ono, the owner of 3 Michelin Stars sushi restaurant in Tokyo. Very moving, unique film and the chef seems an extraordinary person. I am still under the charm! The title is "Jiro dreams about sushi". Have you seen it? (It's made by an English director but everyone talks Japanese).

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  2. Sissi: No, I haven't. I have watched the trailer in Kiki's blog:
    http://fraeuleintrudeskochversuche.blogspot.jp/2011/09/films-on-cooking-sushi.html
    We talked about the film, do you remember?

    I know about Ono Jiro. I know he is an extraordinary person, yet I still don't feel up to visiting his place even if I have enough money.

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  3. It is some sort of roasted and dried Seitan I guess. I made Seitan for several times, because it is very easy to make at home for absolut little money using the cheapest wheat flour available. Sadly since my old pressure cooker did not work on my induction stove I never made Seitan again. Maybe I should try to cook it in a common pot. What I know about Seitan, you have to add a lot of soy sauce, ginger and such into the marinade to make it taste nice. Maybe Kuruma fu is a little bland too? Marinating it (soy sauce and spices in soaking liquid) before breading should add more umami and maybe your children will enjoy it more? But that is only a guess.

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  4. I don't remember at all the conversation on Kiki's blog... Thanks for the link.
    I wouldn't go there even if I were rich enough now to spend 30000 on a meal: as a European I'm such an ignorant in sushi, I would have to visit many much cheaper, but good quality sushi shops beforehand (even the extremely cheap one in Tokyo was 100x better than the most expensive, fancy sushi restaurant I went to in Europe...).
    I would like to slowly increase the level of sushi quality each time I go to Japan. (This time I concentrated more on other Japanese dishes) Then, maybe in several years... I will start dreaming about Ono Jiro's place ;-)
    I suppose that for a Japanese person the efforts, the sophistication, the search of perfection, the hard work etc. that amaze us, Europeans, are not as extraordinary.
    I have just reread the discussion on Kiki's blog. I think the atmosphere must be much warmer in this restaurant when there are no cameras... Especially when regular guests come. On the other hand in the film, Ono Jiro's younger son who has a sushi shop too, seems much more relaxed and cheerful person.

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  5. I loved the movie 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi' - it was one of my favorite documentaries this last year.

    I've never had fu, but I've eaten seitan. Fraulein, you can use a common pot to simmer seitan, my mother made it this way. I enjoy the flavor of seitan, but this much wheat gluten doesn't agree with me.

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  6. Kiki: Yes, it's a type of yaki (baked) fu, and it's bland like any other type of fu in Japan. You are right about your guess, because most recipes for kuruma fu fries say to season the fu by soaking it in a broth or something. I simply seasoned with salt and pepper.

    One more thing: Believe it or not, seitan is almost unknown in Japan.

    Sissi: I recommend that you make nigiri at home if you can get sashimi-grade raw fish where you live. I think this is a good way to learn about nigiri.

    muskratbyte: Oh, did you? I don't even know whether this film is released in Japan.

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  7. Thank you, Hiroyuki. Sadly I have no idea if the fish I buy is fresh enough to be eaten raw... I cannot trust the shop assistants either because they don't eat raw fish and can only recognise the fish's freshness for fried or cooked dishes... I should go to Japan and take a fish knowledge course ;-) (Fish preparation course would be very helpful too since I don't get fillets of most small fish varieties and my homa-made fillets look really scary!).

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  8. Sissi: I wonder don't they sell sushi grade fish in your city at the fish mongers? Sushi grade fish should be trustworthy (sushi grade means to be eaten raw as it is) and you have to ask for sushi grade quality. I live 200 km away from the seaside and tuna is not to be found in our offshore fishing regions but I never had any problems with shushi grade tuna I bought at the local fish monger (except it is terrible expensive...).

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  9. Kiki, I know which day it arrives to my fish shop (which sells to restaurants) but I have seen that sushi shops here have deliveries from a different company (I don't know if they import from the same importer...).
    In general, the shop assistants don't know anything about sushi, so the only thing they would tell me if it's fresh or not. I can recognise it in whole fish, but tuna is impossible of course, though I have it always rare when grilled. I must try sushi too one day because a friend buys fish there and sometimes eats it as sushi at home. He is still alive ;-)

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