If Carbonara Were Chinese (and Dairy-Free)

This Chinese sausage and fermented tofu carbonara comes together with as little effort as the Italian original. Creamy fermented tofu (腐乳, fǔrǔ)—also known as fermented/preserved beancurd and “vegan cheese”—takes the place of Pecorino Romano to make a surprising non-dairy substitute. Furu’s tang and funk might be misplaced in such a simple dish, but the sweet, savory Kam Yen Jan pork sausage makes it a striking duo. Aged Pecorino has its own sharpness and pungency, after all.

The only deviation to the original script, possibly sacrilegious: A brief hot-oil bath in the rendered sausage fat transforms scallion whites into a fragrant coating for the noodles, a move inspired by its Chinese furu noodle predecessor (腐乳拌面, fǔrǔ bànmiàn). Furu banmian uses scallions—and garlic-infused oil, to the chagrin of Italian carbonara.

While the extra step of mincing garlic does go some way toward balancing the sharpness of the furu, I ultimately left it out. Like the Italians, I’ve come to appreciate carbonara for its sparseness. More than a few times now have I cracked open an egg and this jar of furu for a true pantry-friendly meal that comes together in minutes, with little cleanup or prep to speak of. Let the furu and Chinese sausage do the work for you this time, and next—because you will be making this again.

Scallions, however, are my necessary Chinese touch: I can’t eat noodles without something green! This is Chinese carbonara, anyway.

Making Chinese Fermented Tofu Carbonara, With Chinese Ingredients

Whereas some dishes have no business being called a “Chinese version” (see: zhájiàngmiàn as “Chinese bolognese,” dumplings as “Chinese pierogi”), this dish is literally carbonara with Chinese ingredients. From the noodles (dried alkaline wheat noodles with great springy heft) to the guanciale sub (classic Chinese pork sausage) to the ground pepper (white instead of black) and, finally, the fermented tofu that makes this dairy-free carbonara so special, you could serve this dish to a Chinese person and not be questioned… until they found out about the just-set egg, maybe.

It’s recognizable Chinese flavors from top-to-bottom, not just here-and-there, in other words. And yet, while eating it, it feels like carbonara.

• Chinese sausage is not as fatty as guanciale, pork jowl. I used a whole 1.5 sausage lengths in this recipe to render enough oil for the dish, and even then the oil was scant compared to Italian carbonara. Visually, the dish may seem unbalanced with more Chinese sausage than the guanciale in Italian carbonara, but as I ate it I enjoyed more of the sweet, savory sausage.
  • If you don’t like the look: 1) Cut the sausage in thicker batons so there are fewer pieces. 2) Set some aside for another dish. 3) Use less sausage, and add pork lard or a neutral oil to the pan to compensate. Lard’s high viscosity will help the furu-egg mix grip the noodles for a better mouthfeel.
• Choose a white furu like The Mala Market‘s. There is a hint of chili in the furu, but I didn’t taste the spice once mixed into the rest of the dish. The fermented tofu is the strongest flavor in the dish, so if you prefer it milder (and the sauce tighter), do as the fancy Italian restaurants do and add another egg yolk (while cutting back on the furu). Mash the furu into a homogenous paste before whisking in the egg for a smooth sauce.
• White pepper adds another layer of familiarity to this Chinese carbonara. Crack some freshly ground white pepper into the furu-egg sauce, then reserve a couple twists of the grinder for garnish. It’s easy to go overboard with white pepper, particularly when it’s the highest quality fermented white pepper in China, so don’t overdo it.
• Alkaline noodles are wider than traditional wheat noodles and offer a heftier bite while also maintaining their structure when cooked, like spaghetti. I kept hearing Italian cooks instruct their viewers to use “the bigger spaghetti,” which I take means spaghettoni, so I stuck to The Mala Market‘s dried alkaline wheat noodles instead of just any wheat noodle. If you’ve never had alkaline noodles (you may be familiar with Japanese kansui ramen), they offer an amazing texture for dry Chinese noodle dishes.

Step-by-Step Furu Carbonara Cooking Instructions for Two

Thinly slice one and a half Chinese sausages into thick matchstick widths. Thinly slice 2 scallion whites (or 3/4 Chinese sausage and 1 scallion white per person).

Mash 1.5 tablespoons of the furu and its liquid into a homogenous paste (a muddler works well). Whisk in 2 eggs and a dash of white pepper (or 3/4 tablespoon furu, 1 egg and pinch of white pepper per person). Set aside.

Bring a pot of water to boil for 2 servings of noodles (no more water than necessary, for a higher concentration of starch in the pasta water you’ll be using) and immediately begin the next step of cooking the sausage (before dropping the noodles) so the noodles will be ready to transfer to the pan as soon as they are ready. Cook the noodles just over a minute short of package instructions so they are slightly undercooked, not al dente. If using The Mala Market’s dried alkaline noodles, cook for 3:40 instead of the recommended 5 minutes.

While the water comes to a boil, add a sliced Chinese sausage to a cold skillet and let the oil come out slowly over low heat. When it’s sizzling and very fragrant and most of the oil is out, turn the heat low and drop the sliced scallion whites and minced garlic cloves into the oil. Bloom until fragrant. Add a splash of pasta water to the furu-egg paste and mix well. If the noodles are not ready at this point, add a splash of pasta water to the pan to stop it from burning. If the noodles are ready, transfer them directly to the pan and toss well to coat.

Turn off the heat. Add the furu sauce on top of the noodles and stir (not toss!) rapidly to mix, so the egg doesn’t come in immediate contact with the pan. You want to use the noodles to mop around the pan, basically. If it’s dry, add more pasta water as needed while stirring to coat. When the sauce is glossy and tight at the edges and thickened to your liking without being too runny, it is done. Serve immediately with more ground white pepper to taste and enjoy.

Note for mixing: The key to not scrambling your eggs is keeping the eggs off the heat of the pan. Continually stirring mops up all that sauce and prevents it from scrambling, so whatever you do, don’t stop stirring and swirling the pan.

For more recipes with these great alkaline noodles, try Kathy’s crowd-favorite Sichuan liangmian and Wuhan reganmian!