[Recipe] Popo Lye's Hakka Yong Tau Fu

Visit my website @ http://shirleylye12.wix.com/princessmic
Ingredients
400 g of minced pork / chicken
500g of fish paste ( Ready made)
Dash of pepper
corn starch ( if use pork)/ corn flour (if use chicken)
Tau kee ( 1 bag from market)
Tau pok ( 6 pieces)
Tau fu ( slightly harder type)
Bittergourd half
Binja
2-3 Ti Po (dried flat fish)
1 slice of salted fish ( Mui hiong - Mackeral fish)
2-3 tablespoon of bean paste
light soya sauce to taste
water ( more if you want more soup)

Steps
Mix the minced meat in 1 direction. The tip is to make it into a paste by 1 direction so that the meat is not tough. Add in corn starch for pork and mix in 1 direction until it turns into a paste.

Add in pepper and fish paste. Mix evenly in 1 direction. I use hand to mix so it is easier for me to control. The end product should have a tangy feeling

Pan fry the salted fish until golden brown. Add in the salted fish into the paste and mix evenly
Pan fry the ti po until golden brown. Blend it into powder ( if you refer to have some texture, do not need to make it to fine powder). Add into the paste amd mix evenly

Cut the bittergourd in slides of 1 inch width and remove the seeds. Put the paste in between the bittergourd.

Cut a small hole in the tau fu and put the paste inside

Spread the paste on 1 piece of tau kee and then cover it with another piece

Note: you can put the paste on any vegetable you like too. For example Chili / lady fingers..etc

Heat up a wok with oil and deep fried the items and put aside

For Sauce
Add 2 table spoon of oil and salutee the bean paste until fragrant, add in the water follow by the items and shimmer it until soft. Serve when hot
The amount of water is dependent on the number of items u have and how soupy you want it to be. for me, i prefer it slightly more soupy cos i like to go with rice. =)
 



I would like to take this chance to share the story of this dish to commemorate my late Popo

My late Yeye suffered a stroke when he was in his mid 40s when my daddy was very young. At that point of time, my late popo raised 5 young kids single handedly by making yong tau fu and selling them.  At that time, after my yeye suffered from a stroke, both my yeye and popo left the house ( my 2nd popo - yeye's second wife) and stayed in a kampong. Despite being very poor, my popo never fail to ensure that her children has food to eat and a roof to stay.

When I was in my teens, I was a very rebellious girl and I refused to learn anything from my popo. I speak no hakka nor learn the culture of hakka until my popo passed away in 2008 (even until now lolx). I started to know that she cooked wonderful dishes but these were all lost as she did not pass down her recipes. My only source of info will be my daddy. After she passed away, my daddy missed her very much that I decided to remake one of her dishes. After many attempts, I managed to achieve the taste that was "gone". So afraid that this recipe may be lost, I decidd to blog this down as part of my memory.
 

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