Year of Tiger- Fortune Dishes to Explore
Lunar New Year, also called Spring Festival, is the most important holiday in China. Certain dishes are eaten during the Chinese New Year for their symbolic meaning. As we say goodbye to the year of the Ox and greet the upcoming year of the Tiger, we are so excited to share a traditional recipe Chinese will cook for the Spring Festival. The Hakka Stuffed Tofu is a well-known and traditional dish. Whenever there is a banquet in the Lingnan region, this dish will be the first dish served on the table. Not only does the dish matter, but also the preparation and history behind it means a lot.
The Hakka ancestors originally lived in the Central Plains where they often used flour to make dumplings. Later, because of the war, the Hakka ancestors migrated to the Southern China- Lingnan region. The Lingnan region produces more rice, less wheat, which means less flour. Hakka ancestors thought of using pork to make stuffing, using tofu instead of flour, and putting the stuffing into tofu, just like dumplings. Because of its delicious taste, it has become a famous Hakka dish, and it is also a home-cooked dish on the table of Hakka’s reunion on the Spring Festival (The Origin of Hakka Stuffed Tofu, 2015).
The Spring Festival is coming on February 1st, so in this month blog, we would like to share with you the recipe of The Hakka Stuffed Tofu.
The Hakka Stuffed Tofu.
INGREDIENTS
Tofu
1 package of Nature’s Soy Firm tofu
Cooking oil as necessary
Stuffing
·3 oz Ground Pork
·1 Egg
·5 pieces of Shiitake Mushrooms, minced
·Minced Green Onion, ginger
·1/8 teaspoon White Pepper
·1 tablespoon Soy sauce
·1/2 tablespoon Salt if needed
·1/2 tablespoon Sugar
· 1/2 tablespoon Cornstarch
Sauce
·1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
·1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
·1 tablespoon Sugar
·1 tablespoon Cornstarch
·1 cup of Water
INSTRUCTIONS
First, make the stuffing. Mix the ground pork, 1 egg, minced ginger, minced green onion, minced shiitake mushroom, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1/8 teaspoon white pepper, ½ tablespoon sugar and 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch and ½ tablespoon salt if needed together until very well-combined.
Cut tofu into 2-inch squares about 3/4-inch thick. Scoop out the middle part of the tofu to make a round space for the stuffing. Add some cornstarch on the hole to protect it from breaking when frying in the pan.
Stuff the mixed ground pork into the hole of the tofu. Add some cooking oil as necessary, fry tofu filled part face down in the pan on medium heat for 3 minutes. Then flip to the other side, fry until tofu turns golden.
Next step is to make the sauce. While the tofu is frying, mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, 1 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of sugar, set aside.
Add the sauce and salt into the frying pan with the stuffed tofu. Simmer the sauce until it’s thick enough to coat the tofu.
Enjoy the traditional Hakka Stuffed Tofu.
Happy Lunar New Year from Your Friends at Nature’s Soy!
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Reference:
The origin of Hakka Stuffed Tofu. Jucanwang. 2015/08/06.
https://www.jucanw.com/mszx/jfff/3276.html.