Clem's Yong Tau Fu
 



Clem's Yong Tau Fu

 

Yong Tau Fu is a dish of the Hakka people of/from China's south. The dish comprises firm tau fu (bean curd) stuffed with a meat paste. It is then usually served in a soup. The stuffed products now extend to various vegetables as well. It is simple to make especially if short cuts are taken in acquiring the meat pastes and using stock preparations for the soup. Here's how I made a batch for dinner tonight:

 

1. Ingredients
 

Quantities as desired
 

For the paste filling:
 

  • Fish paste.
    This is an essential ingredient. Either make your own or buy it off-the-shelf.
    With experience, one will know which brands are essentially pure fish and not highly added to with amendments e.g. starches, emulsifiers and flavouring agents.
     
  • Pork mince or pork paste (use chicken if looking for a halal version).
    Making it yourself is best. Again, with off--the-shelf products, one does not know how much adjuncts have been used.
     
  • Fresh prawns.
     

Produce to be filled with paste:
 

  • Egg plant.
     
  • Bitter Gourd.
     
  • Okra (Ladies Fingers).
     
  • Large Red and/or Green Chillis.
     
  • Shitake mushroom.
     
  • Capsicum (green or red).
     
  • Fried or un-fried firm tau fu blocks.
     

For the soup:
 

  • Enoki mushroom.
     
  • Spring onions.
    Cut into small lengths.
     
  • Leaf coriander
    Cut into garnishing size.
     
  • Some vegetable greens.
    Bok Choi is typical but you can also use some lettuce e.g. Baby Romaine.
     
  • Fish balls.
     
  • Bean curd skin.
     
  • Bean vermicelli.
    This is the thin glass noodle (translucent when cooked).
     
  • Condiments.
    Fish sauce; White Pepper; fried shallots.
     

2. Method
 

  • Making the paste for filling the tau fu:
     
    • The paste is 1/3 fish, 1/3pork (or chicken) and 1/3 prawns.
       
    • Shell, de-vein and finely chop up the prawns.
      Mix them into the fish paste and pork mince.
       
    • You may choose to add condiments to the mixture e.g. fish sauce, or salt; white pepper; MSG, or chicken stock powder.
      Set aside.
       
  • Prepare your products for filling, and fill them:
     
    • Cut the tau fu blocks into triangles.
      Excavate a small hole into the exposed side of the tau fu triangle (for the filling).
       
    • Slice off the ends of the Bitter Gourd.
      Then make 1 cm thick slices out of the gourd.
      Remove the white centres from each slice.
       
    • Slice the egg plant into thick diagonal slices.
      Make a slit in the middle of each slice into which the paste filling will go.
      Make sure that you do not cut too far in as there needs to be a hinge to hold the slice and paste together.
       
    • Slice off the stem ends off the chillis, make a slit down one side of them and remove the seeds.
       
    • Slice the stem ends off the okra, make a slit down one side of them and remove the seeds.
       
    • Remove the stalk from the shitake mushroom.
       
    • Slice the capsicum into quarters length-wise and remove the seeds.
       
    • Into the spaces prepared for it, spoon paste into the voids, making sure that they stick and will not fall out during subsequent handling and cooking.
      If using fingers as well, wetting them will help prevent the paste from sticking to them.
       
    • Set aside.
       
    • Note that for some, there is a frying step when the stuffed product is deep or shallow fried before use in the next steps.
      For this exercise, I did a shallow fry to colour up the paste (not to fully cook the products).
       
  • Prepare the soup:
     
    • Soak the bean vermicelli in hot water (you may choose to add chicken stock to this water so that the vermicelli will have some taste of its own).
      Set aside when soft enough.
       
    • Into some water which will become the soup, add chicken stock.
      I recommend Knorr Chicken Stock.
       
    • When the soup has boiled, taste and adjust with condiments to your taste.
      Now add whatever stuffed product (and fish balls if you use them) you wish to consume to it and leave it to fully cook.
      When you are sure that the paste filling has cooked through remove the product from the soup and set aside.
       
  • Serving:
     
    • Add some vermicelli to a bowl.
       
    • Place whatever stuffed products you have chosen to consume on top of the noodles.
      Also add the bean curd skin to the bowl as this needs no cooking (if you have bought the prepared type).
       
    • Cook your vegetable and spring onions in the soup and then remove and place into your serving bowl.
       
    • Ladle soup into the bowl over the noodles and stuffed products.
       
    • Garnish with coriander and fried shallots as you please.
    •

 

 

ENJOY!

 

All my cooking (some without recipes) can be found here (click on each photo to go to that dish's page):

 

http://clemkuek.com/photoalbum/photo696.html

 

Video presentations can be found here:

Earlier days: https://youtu.be/BWyHY1h9Y5s

More recently: https://youtu.be/cph2XmwuQLU

 

 

www.clemkuek.com

 

16 August 2025
 

 



Created by Clem Kuek