THE MIGHTY TOFU

steamed tofu with minced pork.











Stuffed bean curd and egg plant(yong tow foo)


THE MIGHTY ‘TOFU’.

Tow foo or tofu is the bean curd, long ago in china; this was called the soybean cake. A poor man’s food. There are many stories about tofu, how it came about and why it was called ‘tofu’. Tofu is said to be a Japanese word. The Cantonese calls it ‘tow foo’

Tofu was made through the accidental coagulation by a cook back in AD600 in China. This later spread through to Japan, Korea and the south east.

Tofu on its’ own is bland and tasteless, but it will take on the flavors of what ever sauce you cook it with. Tofu is sometimes referred to as ‘the meat without bones’.

Nutritionally, tofu has more plus then minus, although soft and sometimes hard to handle, it’s mighty in value!

Tofu is set with gypsum, but now days you can buy them set with eggs or gelatine. The boiling soy milk is poured on to the gypsum and left to set, this set almost instantly.

I remember when I was 9 years old and my mother took me to see a friend making tofu.
I was really fascinated when I saw the man pouring this mixture onto a wooden tray lined with cheese cloth and wondered why the mixture didn’t flow out through the cloth but set instantly.

Then he took more cloth and covered the whole tray and added another tray on top, this is to keep it firm and press out the excess water. 1 hour later his tofu is ready for the market!

The tofu man always ask the housewives, ‘why won’t you want my broken tofu, (sometimes, his tofu do break during transportation) but you’ll want a bad gambler.' The Cantonese word for broken is ‘lun’ so a bad gambler is ‘lun tooe’.

Looking back , I do wonder why those housewives didn’t want the broken tofu, ( in the wet markets of Malaysia and Singapore, the tofu is sold in 2½” square cubes) after all we sometimes cook cut up tofu, but you do need whole pieces to make ‘yong tow foo’ this is the famous tofu stuffed with fish paste.

Malaysia and Singapore are famous for their ‘yong tow foo’ Hong Kong famous for their ‘smelly tofu’, this is fermented tofu deep fried and dipped in sweet and hot sauce. You can even smell this from a 9 storey flat!

Japan’s famous miso soup with tiny cubes of tofu. Korea, in their kimchee soup with tofu and many stir fry tofu dishes.

Buying tofu and storing it is a problem with most housewives because tofu goes off very quickly. It is best to use it straight away or deep fry it, this way you can keep it a bit longer.
Deep fried tofu has many uses, you can add it to stir fry vegetables, stews, and to what ever dish you wish to add.

Now days tofu is sold in plastic boxes with expiry dates, if you need to store it, change the water every day. You can also marinate it with salt.

There are many various textures in tofu, if you want to eat tofu raw, buy the silken tofu; this is finer and very smooth.

Fresh tofu.

To serve this raw all you need is to tip the tofu out on to a plate.
Fry up some chopped garlic and the white part of the spring onions, add some tiny fried ‘ikan belis’.

Sprinkle some coriander leaves and spring onions on top of the tofu, pour the hot garlic oil onto the spring onions, a few dashes of soy sauce and serve.

There’s more work with ‘yong tow foo’ but the dish is just so delicious!
YONG TOW FOO.

You need fish paste (you can buy ready made fish paste)
Drain the tofu, (buy the firm ones) on paper towels.

Cut them into triangles, cut a slit on the long side and remove some tofu out to get a drain, take some fish paste on a butter knife, dip ½ the paste in corn flour (this helps to adhere the paste to the tofu) and fill the drain with it.
Smooth over the top and place it straight on to the fry pan, this only needs 10mins for the fish paste to cook, then its ready. You can either serve it with fish soup or make a sauce to go with it.

Tofu is too soft for a lot of handling; this dish is usually, eat as you cook, it’s a ‘ hands on’ dish, and the whole family can be involved .

Normally , in this dish, there are also stuffed egg plant, bean curd skin, ladies fingers , chilies and bitter gourds.

STEAMED TOFU WITH MINCED PORK AND PRAWNS.
1 box semi firm tofu
½ bowl minced pork or chicken
roughly chop up some prawns

mix pork and prawns together with pepper, salt, corn flour, a bit of chicken powder , sesame oil.

Spread evenly over the tofu, steam 10-12 mins, pour out the excess water, fry some garlic oil, sprinkle coriander leaves and spring onions on top of the tofu, pour hot oil on top.

Add a dash of soy sauce, serve with steam rice. There are many more ways you can cook tofu, try and experiment , you will be surprised .
copyright(c)by gourmetchef2005.