Hubs wanted to have yong tau foo last Saturday lunch, and informed he invited a couple-friend of his to come over for lunch. To make sure we use the freshest ingredients, I decided to go to Pasar Tomang on Friday to buy the necessary ingredients. Alas, my usual Pak Haji was sold out on his ikan tenggiri (spanish mackerel) and after checking out other sellers, I bought what I thought look like a juve king mackerel (I believe this is called 'batang' in Malaysia wet markets)
When I came home, I prepared the fish for Saturday's stuffing. When I first gut the fish, my knife came out with blood so red that I thought "Wow! That almost looked like human blood!" I then proceed to fillet the fish to scrape the flesh off the skin and my next thought was "What an unusual red colour flesh for a tenggiri. This fish must be a very strong swimmer!" I told Hubs what I bought when he came back later in the evening and one look at the now frozen flesh, he said "I don't know what you bought, but that's not a tenggiri. I think we better go to Pasar Mayestik early tomorrow morning to get the right fish."
The next morning, while at Mayestik, we bought our tenggiri and solved the identity of mystery red-blooded fish. I had bought a juve tuna instead. Thank God for Hub's hindsight, otherwise it would have been a disastrous meal! Some more with guests!
Anyway this is the Patrick's Hakka Yong Tau Foo recipe. Tailored to how Hubs likes it. Because he thought my mum's version is a bit porky. Obviously the Hakka is courtesy moi, since I grew up stuffing yong tau foo whenever my mum makes it. :)
The Patrick's Hakka Yong Tau Foo (serves 4)
300gm tenggiri flesh (keep the bone for soup base)
100gm prawns (keep the shells for soup base)
150gm pork belly
4-5 spring onion heads, chopped (keep the green parts as garnish)
1 tablespoon of crispy fried shallots
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp soya sauce
half an egg white
salt and pepper to taste
chillies, ladies fingers, bitter gourd and brinjal for stuffing
- Combine meats with chopped spring onion heads, fried shallots and seasoning with a large bowl.
- With a food processor or electric chopper, grind the meat mix into paste. If using electric chopper, do this in batches.
- In the same large bowl, add in the egg white and mix till well combined i.e. paste feels sticky. Shape paste into a big ball and throw against the bowl a few times to add a springy bite to paste.
- Stuff paste into the vegetables. If there's any excess paste, it can be rolled into ping-pong sized balls or frozen for another batch. (For this recipe, we managed to stuff 8 pcs chillies, 8 pcs ladies finger, 1 medium bittergourd and 2 medium brinjals)
- In a pan or wok, heat some oil. Pan-fry the stuffed vegetables till just done.
- Add in bittergourd, ladies finger and chillies into prepared soup base and bring to boil just before serving. Garnish with spring onions.
Most yong tau foo specialty shops tend to serve their brinjal, fried, on the side, which is what we did because Hubs like it that way. Anyway, I don't fancy brinjal that much so I will reserve my comments. ;p Or you can try this method which I prepared my chillies with this time round.
In a small heated pan, add crispy fried shallots and some of its oil.* Add in the fried chillies and very quickly a dash of soya sauce and toss. Garnish with spring onions before serving.
*I always make sure I have crispy fried shallots soaked in oil handy in my kitchen because I love this and it's so handy and versatile
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| I lurve my chilies prepared this way. Adds a non-spicy "kam heong" aroma to the whole dish. Try it! |
