I really want to get beyond the 'silken / soft / firm / extra firm tofu' categories that most people know in the West. Tofu is so much more than that. To me that is just different firmness of ONE tofu, not many types of tofu. Usually this way of thinking about tofu ignores the important properties of tofu naming for me:
What is the exterior like? Is it pressed? Is it puffy or not?
My words for tofu will be different as I use mainly Hokkien / Teochew words for them. But there will be an equivalent in Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Korean...
2. Doufu gan (what I call 'tau kwa') is a pressed tofu that can be plain, or seasoned. It's very sturdy and is even eaten as a snack on its own.
How to prepare it: https://thewoksoflife.com/pressed-tofu-plain-or-spiced/
I always have bags of these spicy doufu gan snacks: https://www.sayweee.com/en/product/Jinduigu-Hand-Made-Roasted-Tofu-Snack/5258?trace_id=3fd9d9dc-f44a-486d-a64c-ad0412910ae4
3. Then there's the 'tofu puff' category:
In Mandarin, 'you dou fu' and in Hokkien, 'tau kwa pok'. Will be broadly known as 'tofu puff' in the west. It's used to soak up very sturdy broths, for example laksa or hotpot.
You can cut it open to stuff things in. (There's a Teochew dish 'tau kwa pau'. You make a bao with it!)
Or you serve it as a the star of a dish to dip into things, like in gado-gado:
4. There's tofu puff, made into slices... https://www.sayweee.com/en/product/Natures-Soy-Fried-Beancurd-Sheet/24588?trace_id=4ee3b967-31ba-4793-92ea-e1896d5c1392
Use in similar ways, or you can even fry them up and make chips out of it.
Mostly seen in soup noodle dishes as added protein.
5. Then there's tofu by-products! Stuff that comes from the yuba, the 'skin' that gets skimmed when you boil soy milk..
You can get it frozen like this https://www.sayweee.com/en/product/J-Y-Fresh-Beancurd-Skin--Frozen-1/57130?trace_id=395d0b05-98c4-450b-b469-79a3b3f32475
It can come stuffed with pork or fish (yuba dumpling type things are very common)
Fresh if you live near a tofu factory or make it yourself
It can come fried, like tofu chips
You can get it in sheets, that you can then cut into noodles
You can get it in sticks!
https://www.sayweee.com/en/product/Dragon-Dried-Beancurd-Stick-/12541?trace_id=b043271a-0b1a-40dd-9602-f886ddc139c9
