Congratulations—
you’re about to learn the perfect party treat:
Fried Stuffed Tofu.
We’re gonna learn how to transform firm tofu
into delicious golden triangles
filled with homemade stuffing.
My dad will start with his secret technique
to prime the tofu for a beautiful fry.
Before we fry, we'll prepare the tofu.
We're using 1 lb of tofu, five pieces total.
We're first going to soak the tofu in salted water.
We’ll add a tsp of salt into the water.
Place each piece of tofu into the pot.
Now, we’ll put in all our tofu.
Tofu comes in many forms, shapes, and firmnesses.
But here, you’ll want to get a medium-firm to firm tofu.
Make sure to find a tofu
that you can handle and cut comfortably.
The goal is to have it act as a vessel for the filling.
Otherwise, you can buy the pre-cut tofu for this dish.
We'll scoop out and drain the tofu.
After boiling for about 2-3 minutes,
strain your tofu but be careful not to break any.
Next, we'll chop up the ingredients
and make the filling.
We'll use about 1/4 oz of cilantro
and dice 2-3 stalks of green onions.
Mince the cilantro.
We'll mix it into the filling.
If you don't like cilantro, you can skip it.
After dicing the cilantro,
we’ll move on to dicing the green onions.
Now, we'll cut the fish.
Pat it dry with a paper towel first.
This is 6 oz of fish.
6 oz.
What kind of fish is it?
This is sole fish.
You can use any fish or meat that you like.
After drying the fish, we’ll start to slice it.
Watch, cut it like this.
As long as it's small.
Just slice it thinly and then we'll smash it.
Slice your fish into 1/4-inch pieces
and get ready to smash it with the end of your knife.
Once it's cut up,
we'll use the flat side of the tip of the knife
to smash it.
It becomes very sticky when you smash it.
See that?
With a cleaver, we’ll smash down on our fish a bit at at time
to create our paste.
We’ll then fold the paste onto itself
and smash it again.
Very easy.
It's very easy.
Now it's all sticky and paste-like, so set it aside.
Once the shrimp is ready, we'll put them together.
Now, the shrimp.
Peel the shells off.
Peel the shell.
I've already peeled those.
We’ll first peel the shrimp.
We'll slice the shrimp open.
Then we'll wash the veins off.
Then we’ll butterfly the shrimp
by slicing into the back of the shrimp slightly,
which will also help us devein them in the next step.
To level up your confidence in cutting all kinds of ingredients,
check out our comprehensive masterclass on knife techniques
in the Canto Cooking Club.
To get access, check out club.madewithlau.com.
After cutting the shrimp, we’ll use water to clean them.
Set the shrimp here to wash the veins off.
Isn't it clean?
We’ll wash the shrimp gently,
making sure to remove the dark veins as we drain them.
Squeeze them dry.
Don't cut the shrimp up.
Smash the shrimp.
Smashing is how you get it sticky.
You'd just get chunks if you cut it.
If you have chunks, you can't get it as paste-like.
For the shrimp, my dad likes to go straight into mashing
without cutting first.
You don't have to do this my way.
If you have another method that works well for you,
go for it!
This is how I like to work.
After mashing once,
we’ll then chop the paste a bit,
before folding and mashing again.
Smash and fold some more.
Mix it up.
Once you’ve mashed both your shrimp and your fish,
mix them together and continue mashing to combine them.
All right, that's about ready.
Now, we'll season it.
For the marinade, we’ll use a tsp of salt,
a 1/2 tsp of sugar, a 1/4 tsp of white pepper,
2 tsp of cornstarch, and 2 tbsp of water.
Then we’ll mix the marinade together.
Mix the marinade up first.
Mix it well.
We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com
along with step-by-step instructions and video clips
to guide you as you make the recipe at home.
Once the marinade's in,
combine it thoroughly with the fish and shrimp,
beat it together.
Then we’ll mix the marinade into the paste.
See how sticky it got?
Mix like this.
Now, we'll add sesame oil.
1 tsp of sesame oil.
We'll also add the cilantro and green onions.
Mix it well.
Now, we’ll stir in the sesame oil and aromatics into the paste
with our chopsticks.
Use the spoon like this.
My dad also likes to use a spoon to press down on the paste
to incorporate the ingredients
and to create a smoother consistency.
All right, set that aside.
Now, we'll make the sauce.
It's a dipping sauce we'll serve at the end.
We'll use 2 tbsp of light soy sauce,
1/2 tsp of dark soy sauce,
1 tbsp of vinegar,
and 2 tbsp of sugar.
Add 2 tbsp of water.
Add chili sauce to your own taste.
Add more if you like spice.
For us, 1/2 tsp is good.
Mix it up and have a taste.
See if you like it.
If you like it, you're good,
or you can adjust if it's not there yet.
Okay!
Now, we'll cut the tofu.
Before we cut the tofu, we'll get a clean towel.
Pat the tofu dry.
This way, when we fry the tofu,
the oil won't splatter as much.
We’ll place our tofu on the towel to dry.
Use the towel to dry the tofu.
We’ll fold over the towel
and press down gently to absorb
as much water from the tofu as possible.
Then we’ll set them on the cutting board for our next step.
We'll cut the tofu diagonally.
Across each diagonal.
We’ll cut each piece from corner to corner twice,
to end up with four triangular pieces.
Once you've finished that step,
it's time to start stuffing the tofu.
Here, in the center,
carve out a space without poking through the sides.
With a spoon, we’ll score out a small part of the center.
Scoop out a small piece.
Then scoop it out.
See?
Watch, here.
The center.
Use a small spoon, like a coffee spoon.
We’ll continue scooping out the center of the pieces,
being careful not to break the structure of the tofu.
Like this.
You could also use the tip of a knife.
You can use this method too.
You can also use a knife if you prefer.
The first question is,
"How do you prevent this from falling apart?"
Your tofu must be dry,
but the meat can't be too dry.
The filling needs to be sticky enough to stay put.
Don't fry soft tofu.
Don't break the tofu.
Then you can't use it?
You shouldn't use the piece that you've broken,
because it'll fall apart in the oil.
After scooping each piece,
we’ll actually use the tofu that we took out.
What do we do with all these tofu scraps?
Let me show you.
Use a knife.
Smash it.
We’ll use the cleaver to mash the tofu scraps into a paste.
We’ll mash them a couple times to make sure it’s a fine paste
without any large chunks of tofu.
Add it to the filling.
Once it's in, mix well with a spoon.
Let the fish, shrimp and tofu stick together.
No waste!
Then we’ll mix in the tofu with the fish & shrimp paste
with a spoon.
My dad takes about a minute to do this
to ensure the tofu is well incorporated
with the rest of the ingredients.
When that’s done mixing, we can start to stuff our tofu pieces.
Here,
we'll fill a piece.
Scoop it in.
Press firmly.
With a spoon, we’ll take about a tablespoon or so of filling
and fill the hole in each piece of tofu.
Press it flat.
Should it stick out a little bit?
It doesn't matter.
It can stick out a little bit.
What can we do with leftover filling?
You can pan-fry it, deep fry it, or make fish balls.
You can do any shape?
Shape doesn't matter, you're just going to eat it.
It's not for looking nice.
You're just going to eat it.
All right, all stuffed.
After stuffing all the tofu,
we’ll need a large enough pot for deep frying.
All right.
Now everything is prepared, so we can fry it.
Heat on.
High heat.
With the heat on high, we’ll add the oil.
Add oil.
10 oz or so.
As long as it can cover the tofu.
This is corn oil.
The tofu can go in when the oil is at 350° F.
If you don't have a thermometer,
test the oil with a chopstick.
If you see small bubbles coming out of the chopstick,
then the oil is ready.
When the oil is at 350°F
or there are small bubbles like this around a chopstick,
we’re ready to fry.
Gently add the tofu in.
Add the tofu safely, don't throw them in, understand?
Place them slowly.
For safety, try to avoid splashing oil
when you submerge the tofu.
Using a spider strainer is a good alternative.
Tongs pose as a riskier alternative,
because you might not have a good grip
and might accidentally drop the tofu.
We’ll lower the heat now.
We’ll fry in batches to not overcrowd the pot.
Stir the tofu around gently
to make sure they’re frying evenly
and not sticking to each other.
They're ready when they just start to turn golden.
Then we'll fry them again
to get them crispy.
After a minute and a half to 2 minutes,
or when they start to turn a slight golden brown,
we can take them out.
Then we’ll repeat with the rest of the tofu.
"Is there an alternative to deep frying?"
Steam it.
Steam.
You can pan-fry it, you can steam it.
How long do you steam it for?
It's fast, it'll be done in 10 minutes.
After frying the last batch,
we’ll set them aside and get ready for the second fry.
We’ll make sure the heat is on high
and wait until the oil reaches 400°F.
Let's start.
It's at 400°F now.
Lower the heat.
We’ll add in half of the tofu to fry for about a minute
to get that beautiful golden brown and crispy exterior.
Today’s dish is the crispy cousin of steamed stuffed tofu,
a recipe we’ve made before.
While you’d find the steamed version
at a sit-down restaurant,
we would likely find our version in the streets of Hong Kong
or on food carts in Toisan.
This is a childhood memory of mine.
Fried Stuffed Tofu.
When I was a kid,
people sold these door to door.
Not just fish, but it can be pork, beef, anything.
My mom bought these a lot.
We didn't make them, we bought them.
They'd fry the tofu right in front of you.
They'd fry it right then and there,
it wasn't pre-fried.
As we’ve mentioned before,
tofu is one of the fried stuffed 3 treasures,
with peppers and eggplant being the other two.
Just like at a street market,
we’re double-frying the stuffed tofu
to achieve the signature golden color
and addictive uber-crispy bite.
After we finish double-frying the rest of the tofu,
we’ll set it aside while we cook our sauce.
Okay, now we'll cook the sauce.
We’ll heat our wok on high then add about a tsp of oil.
Now we can add the sauce we mixed earlier.
At this point, my dad mixes together 1/2 a tsp of cornstarch
with a tbsp of water
to create a slurry to thicken our sauce.
Making this sauce is optional.
If you don't like it, don't use it.
It doesn't matter.
Then we’ll add in our slurry and mix it in.
Mix it around.
We’ll continue to mix it frequently until it boils.
It will thicken more when it cools down,
so don't thicken it too much now.
When the sauce boils and starts a thicken just a bit,
we’ll turn off the heat and pour into a small serving bowl.
Perfectly fills the bowl.
Now we can plate our tofu pieces nicely on a serving plate.
And of course, we can’t forget the bowl of dipping sauce.
Right?
Beautiful!
Come try one!
Yes!!
Oh my god!
Our Fried Stuffed Tofu is complete!
These are our childhood memories.
I hope you all enjoy it.
Hong Doy, time to eat Fried Stuffed Tofu!
Cheers!
Where did you learn to make this?
These are...
Cameron, Cameron!
Cameron!
Okay, okay!
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A huge thank you to our Wokstars
and all of our chefs in the Canto Cooking Club.