The Food Canon

I was happy to finally find a type of bean curd skin or tofu skin ("foo chook") here which turns out well when stuffed and fried the Hakka Yong Tofu way (HYTF).

Amazingly, there is a post here on how to make tofu skin. I suppose you may want to take the trouble if are staying overseas where good tofu skin is not easily available.

I have previously blogged about the HYTF fried stuffed bean skin. I have since found out that there is a better type of tofu skin which is available here. It is flexible enough to be shaped without the need to wet it first and it comes int eh right square of rectangle shape.

Stalls normally sell it in square pieces for recipes like Bak Kut Teh; but I find that to be too small for HYTF. There are stalls which sell them in larger pieces and this is the type I like to use if I am making rolled version. Alternatively, you can also create flat square pieces and have the stuffing in between (see lead photo). If you are doing it this way, you can use the smaller square pieces that are more widely available in stores.

The stuffing is made out of 2 parts fish (batting or mackerel) and 1 part minced pork. I also add some garlic, spring onions and Mui Heong salted fish and minced them altogether on a chopping board with two chopper in tow. I add some salted corn flour flurry along the way. You are not looking for the springy bounce like that found in fish balls. After you mince it into a paste, just slap it a few times so that the stuffing will be tighter.

As for the beancurd skin, cut into rectangle pieces in the direction where you can roll it easily. Use the stuffing to stick the rolls together, as in photos below.

The deep fry till golden brown. Best eaten immediately after cooking.

Fried and done.

As for the sweet sauce of "tim cheong", check my recipe here. As for the chilli sauce, any plain and fresh chilli sauce will do.

This goes well with rice or Chee cheong fun.

For my detailed HYTF recipes, check out the posts here.

Lead photo: A HYTF combination with Chee Cheong Fun which we served recently for an Alpha party. (photo credit: Joyce Ho) 

It should be obvious that the most important piece in Hakka Yong Tofu is the Stuffed Tofu, from which the dish is named.

One challenge with making this is Singapore is that it is difficult to find a kind of tofu which is easily available in KL. The KL version - called 'soi tofu" in Cantonese - has the right texture: silky smooth and taste divine when served stuffed, after a brief pan fry, in soup or sauce. And yet, it is firm enough to hold the stuffing. The local varieties here are either too hard or too soft (thus, it cannot hold the stuffing).

But if you can lay hand on very fresh Tau Kwa which is made to have a softer texture, you can replicate the KL version. This was what I was happy to discover recently when I manage to use some very fresh Tau Kwa. It was imply delicious.

Read this post on how to make the stuffing and for fuller instructions. We used a 1:1 fish-pork ratio, using Batang fish (Spanish Mackeral) and minced pork with some fats in it.

Slice the tau kwa into two tri-angle shaped pieces. Scoop a bit of the center and fill in with the stuffing using a spoon. Smoothen it with a corn flour slurry.

Stuffing the Tau Kwa (Photo credit: Joyce Ho)

Make a fish stock from the fish bones and heads. Wash them first and deep fry briefly to remove the fishy taste. Then heat up some water, add salt to taste and add the fish parts. After about 30 minutes, the stock should be done. Strain. Using the stock, gently cook the stuffed Tau Kwa for about 10 minutes. Be gentle with the handling as the tau kwa can break. Alternatively, you can also steam the stuffed Tau Kwa, which will be my preferred way of cooking this.

Add oyster sauce to the stock and corn flour slurry to create a sauce. The stuffed Tau Kwa is best served immediately after it is cooked or steamed as it is best eaten hot.

You need to serve it with chilli sauce and "tim cheong" (recipe here), garnished with diced spring onions.

Now the challenge is - where can you get very fresh Tau Kwa? Supermarts are out. Try wet market stalls.

Hakka YTF served with Chee Cheong Fun

Note: The full recipe for HYTF can be found here.

When I cook Hakka Yong Tau Foo, it is almost always for a party.

It has been while since I last made this and along with the food team in my church, we had to find our bearings again. But it wasn't as difficult as we had feared. It all went very smoothly and about 100 diners enjoyed the unique dining experience at our Alpha Course last night.

Why HYTF for tonight? I was asked by the team to cook whatever I want as this was one of the last few meals I am doing in the church. It isn't quite the "Last Supper" but it is true that I will be moving to another church to serve as their pastor w.e.f. 1st July this year.

I was thinking of Japanese beef rice, using Sous Vide to 48-cooked some short rib beef to perfection. Or maybe coffee pork ribs and butter prawns. But the dishes will not engage the whole food team the way HYTF will. And so the decision was made.

In this post, I will summarise the recipe for Hakka YTF in one table. I will not list out every piece here but will do so for those that use different techniques for preparation. Please read my previous posts on HYTF here.




Download the recipe in printable PDF format here 

This is the last of the trilogy (ahem) on my Mum's Hakka Yong Tau Foo.

As you can read from earlier posts (here and here), this dish is actually very "individualistic" as each piece - may it be brinjal, okra or foo chook - though stuffed with the same paste, is cooked differently and carries it's own special flavours and texture. It is certainly not a melting pot.

This is what makes HYTF special. Adding pork and salted fish may make it Hakka but good YTF should not be a generic pool of something. Each piece should have its own flavour and unique preparation.

Malaysian brand from Sheng Shiong

In the introductory post on my Mum's Hakka Yong Tofu, I gave the recipe on making the stuffing or filling. Once you get that done, the rest should be easy. I also gave details on making stuffed brinjal. I continue here with the rest of the HYTF pieces. Most of these should come to you naturally as you get down to this. Don't expect to get it all perfect the first time round. As I have advised, start with 2 or 3 types first. But once you have eaten this, there is no turning back and it will be etched forever in your gastronomical memories: this is Hakka YTF.   

It was Levi Strauss who said that "the process of cooking is the process by which nature is turned into culture."

Nothing can be more true when it comes to Hakka Yong Tau Foo. In the hands of a Hakka cook, some common and ordinary ingredients are mixed, chopped, stuffed, steamed, boiled and fried. The end result is a classic masterpiece. 

When it comes to Yong Tau Foo, it is Hakka and the rest. The rest are relegated to the generic pool of YTFs, much like how Hainanese Chicken Rice leads the pack.