Cooked Hakka Yong Tau Foo for reunion dinner this year, steamboat style! It is truly backbreaking, I won’t lie, but the results of homemade yong tau foo are immense!
Hakka Yong Tau Foo
Serves 4-6
For the soup:
2kg pork bones
500g chicken bones
300g soya bean, soaked for 1 hour and drained
50g dried anchovies, wash and drain
Soaking liquids (see below)
1/ Cover bones with water and bring to a simmer
2/ Strain. Wash bones and pot well.
3/ Fill with fresh water to cover and bring to a boil
4/ Skim and cook for 3 hours. Strain if desired at this stage or Step 7.
5/ Add soya bean, dried anchovies and soaking liquids from below.
6/ Cook for 1 hour.
7/ Strain if you have not done so at Step 4.
For the yong tau foo:
Oil for frying
1 deep-fried fried flat fish (tee poh) (20g), ground
1 dried cuttlefish, soaked, drained and chopped *
30g haebee, soaked, drained and chopped *
500g fish fillet, fibres removed and pounded with the back of a cleaver
3 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 teaspoon salt
120g water
500g ground fatty pork
150g peeled water chestnuts, diced
25g spring onions, chopped
2 teaspoon fish sauce
½ tsp white pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
Assorted vegetables and tofu products
*Save soaking liquid for broth
1/ Fry the teepoh in oil. Break it up and grind to a fine powder.
2/ In the same oil, fry the cuttlefish and haebee until fragrant.
3/ Mix the fish with tapioca flour and salt. Lift the mix up and throw it against the side of a bowl or on a chopping board a few times. Slowly mix in the water.
4/ Combine the fish with pork, water chestnuts, spring onions, fish sauce, white pepper, sugar, fried dried goodies and teepoh powder.
5/ Stuff into assorted vegetables, momen tofu, tofu skin and tofu puffs.
6/ Pan fry before serving with broth.