Yubu (Fried Tofu Pouches)

The name is written with the characters for oil (yu, 油) and tofu (bu, 腐), and the Korean Food Composition Table describes yubu as deep-fried thin slices of pressed tofu. Frying drives out water and puffs the slice so that the inside separates from the crust, leaving a hollow pouch. Tofu itself is old in Korea; it is recorded from the Goryeo period onward and was made at temples that supplied royal tombs. Fried tofu pouches of this kind belong to a newer, Japanese-influenced layer of the table. They are the same food Japan calls aburaage.

Korean tofu comes in only a few types compared with China and Japan. The Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture lists the familiar Korean ones as soft tofu, firm block tofu and yubu, a sign of how ordinary yubu has become in Korean kitchens. Its best-known use is yubu-chobap: pouches simmered in soy sauce, sugar and cooking wine, then filled with rice seasoned with vinegar, sugar and salt. Supermarkets sell kits with the pouches already seasoned and a packet of rice seasoning, which made yubu-chobap a lunchbox and picnic staple (see dosirak). Like gimbap, which the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture traces to Japanese rolled sushi adapted in Korea, it shows how a dish brought in under Japanese rule was taken into Korean home cooking.

Beyond chobap, sliced yubu goes into eomuk-tang, noodle soups and jeongol hot pots. It soaks up broth like a sponge. Cooks also stuff whole pouches with minced meat, tofu and vegetables and tie them shut with blanched chives (yubu-jumeoni, 'yubu purses').

• Plant protein: Like other tofu, yubu is a source of soy protein, and the Korean Food Composition Table lists notable calcium and iron, per 100 g.
• Fat from frying: About a third of plain yubu's weight is fat, according to the Korean Food Composition Table. Many recipes blanch the pouches in boiling water before seasoning to rinse off surface oil.
• Seasoned pouches: Ready-to-fill pouches are packed in a sweet soy brine, and the rice seasoning adds more sugar and salt. Check labels if you watch sodium or sugar.
• Soy allergy: Soy is one of the nine major food allergens in the US, according to the FDA. Yubu is pure soy, and seasoned kits may also contain wheat from soy sauce.