A snack that wakes you up
How? Eugene and Fûpí Beancurd Skin Crisps have made it so it crackles and tastes like your favourite hotpot
Beancurd. (I bet you didn't see that coming.)
It’s reliable. Dependable. Accessible. A great (and even necessary) addition to a meal.
It just… is. It’s… there. And we kind of take it for granted. (I do.)
“We’d often see beancurd in the form of a pudding or a curd, also known as beancurd dessert,” says Eugene, marketing executive of Fûpí Beancurd Skin Crisps.
“Most people consume beancurd skin with hotpot, and some even put it in their home-cooked dishes” like in stir-fries, he adds. We also usually have it as a drink.
So why not take advantage of it – and turn it into something else? (And why didn’t we think of this before?)
“There weren’t many beancurd snacks or crisps you could find in the market back then, at least not as common as finding potato chips in stores,” Eugene recalls.
“We rarely saw beancurd as a ready-to-eat snack by itself, but more of a food item that’s usually consumed with other dishes. It gave us the idea to create Fûpí, the first beancurd-skin snack company in Singapore.”
You’d think it would be easy
But it wasn’t.
“While creating Fûpí, we learnt that it is a long and tedious process to make beancurd skin,” Eugene admits. (If you’re interested, you can check out their steps here.)
So yes, as they went on to develop their brand and Sichuan Mala and Hot Pot Tomato variants, there were a few epiphanies.
“We discovered that compared to regular potato chips, Fûpí is a healthier snack option as it is high in dietary fibre and trans fat, and is cholesterol-free,” he states. “And on top of that, our flavours are all vegan-friendly.” Preservative-free too.
How to eat
We just open the pack, reach for a piece, and bite into it.
But wait. “As delicious as it already is as a snack by itself, you could also pair the crisps with other food or dishes,” Eugene suggests. Their personal recommendations? Use your beancurd-skin crisps with…
#1 Fried bee hoon
#2 Porridge or congee
#3 Nasi lemak
#4 Salads
“For dishes like porridge or congee, nasi lemak, salads or even fried bee hoon, you can crush up the crisps into tiny pieces and add them on top,” he points out.
“It helps tie in the flavours of your food together nicely. It also adds an interesting texture, especially to your salad and bee hoon. Your boring ol’ porridge is now even tastier.”
#5 Mala Xiang Guo
#6 Satay
#7 Hotpot
#8 Whatever food you can think of, actually
“We encourage our customers to be adventurous and pair the crisps with anything they want.”
If you ask me
And if you ask Eugene, there are some instances where having beancurd-skin crisps in the kitchen may come in handy.
“Since our current flavours, Sichuan Mala and Hot Pot Tomato, are hotpot-inspired, I tend to reach for one whenever I start to crave for hotpot – or when I just feel like snacking in general,” he relates.
“If you think about it, our snacks are like hotpot in a bag. If you’re on a diet or simply just too lazy to go out and get in line for hotpot, grab a bag of Fûpí.”
More flavours are in the works and probably coming soon. “It can be challenging perfecting them, as everyone’s tastebuds can be very different,” he observes.
“Our goal is to find the right balance so that we could please the majority.”
Do you have other ideas or crunchy alternatives on how to use beancurd-skin crisps?
Right now I’m thinking of crushing them into a breadcrumb-like consistency, and using them as coating to fry chicken with. And anything else I can fry, actually. I wonder if it’ll work?
Fûpí is available at Lazada, Shopee, Redmart, NTUC and 7-Eleven outlets in Singapore. Go to their site, Facebook and Instagram too.
