What's up everyone?
Today we're making Tomato Tofu Soup
A dish my dad has made hundreds of times.
Hello, friends! We're together again.
A lot of my friends have been talking to me about
the tomatoes we're growing in our backyard,
asking what you can make besides tomatoes and eggs.
So we're going to learn a simple recipe.
Tomato Tofu Soup!
Tofu and tomatoes are very nutritious.
I happen to have some medium firm tofu at home.
So I'll use that.
If you want to use firmer tofu, that's fine too.
It's best to avoid the silkiest, softest tofu.
That kind will fall apart too easily.
Medium firm tofu is pretty good.
I also have this fresh mushroom.
It's about 3-4 oz.
Two eggs.
First, we'll cut the tomatoes.
I grew these tomatoes myself, in the backyard.
We're going to cut them in two ways.
One of them is going to be a small dice.
We're taking off this small, hard part.
Small dice.
Make sure to keep the shape of the tomato intact
so that it's easier to dice when you rotate it.
Like my dad mentioned, he grew these tomatoes himself
and they're an annual staple of his huge vegetable garden
even though he didn't grow any back in China.
One year, we had maybe
200 pounds.
What?! Of tomatoes?!
What?!
200 pounds.
200 pounds of tomatoes? Here?
It was about 200 pounds, that year.
In Cantonese, tomatoes are called "faan ke"
which literally translates to "foreign eggplant".
This is a nod to China's confused but curious first impression of tomatoes
when they first arrived on the scene
a few hundred years ago during the Ming Dynasty.
Since then, tomatoes have made their way
into different niches of Chinese cuisine
especially in classic Cantonese dishes
like scrambled eggs and tomatoes
or the soup we're learning how to make right now.
We're cutting the other tomatoes into bigger pieces.
Why are we cutting some smaller and some bigger?
The smaller pieces will release more flavor into the soup.
The bigger pieces are for texture.
It's better for eating.
The tomatoes look great.
Someone was asking, "Do you need to remove the tomato skin?"
If I'm making tomatoes, I always like to peel the skin.
But Daddy wants to save time, so he leaves the skin.
Because I want to put it in my mouth, without chewing, and just swallow.
Okay, I'll let Daddy tell you how to remove the skin.
Maybe we demo it.
Hot water.
In the middle, score it.
Very lightly, like this.
Not too deep.
Make sure you have a sharp knife.
Yeah, show it.
Put it here.
Okay.
Why do you need hot water?
Makes it detach from the skin.
Right? Loosens it?
My dad leaves the tomato in the hot water for about 20 seconds.
Oh, what?! That's like straight off.
Wow!
Hong Doy, learn from Yeh Yeh.
What are we doing?
What have we been doing?
See?
Beautiful!
It's that easy.
Wow!
I've never seen that.
If you want fiber, leave the skin on.
The skin is also nutritious.
If you want it to be more smooth, remove the skin.
Dice the mushroom.
I also wanted to make a special shoutout to thank all of our
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Head on over to patreon.com/madewithlau to learn more!
Time to cut the tofu.
You don't want the water?
No, we don't want it. Toss it.
Rinse it a bit, because the tofu isn't freshly pressed.
It's been made for a while.
How do we cut the tofu? Watch this.
Cut it through the middle.
Don't cut it too small.
All right, it's ready.
Put it back in the box.
The tofu is cut up.
We're separating the two parts of the green onions to cut.
Separate the white parts.
The green parts.
Also, ginger.
With the ginger, we're going to give it a smash.
We're going to smash the ginger
to release its flavor more quickly when frying it later.
Just a quick smash.
Also, these two eggs.
I'll use one hand to break the egg open.
Squeeze it.
We're nearly set.
We also need the slurry.
To create the slurry for the soup,
we'll combine 3 tbsp of cornstarch with 4 tbsp of water
but no need to mix it up just yet.
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
All right, our ingredients are all ready.
Let's start cooking the tomatoes.
Turn on the stove and heat up the wok.
We're going to heat the wok for 20-30 seconds before adding oil.
Add 1 tbsp oil.
And we're going to heat the oil for just 15-20 seconds before adding the ginger.
Put the ginger in.
Frying these bigger pieces of ginger brings out its flavor
which will later enhance the soup.
Because we're not looking to eat the ginger like in stir-fried dishes
we're not chopping it more finely.
Once the oil is rippling, we can turn down the heat.
The wok is hot enough now.
We can turn it down.
Put the green onion whites in.
All right.
Next, add the tomatoes.
Fry the small pieces.
We're going to let the smaller pieces of tomato cook for about 20-30 seconds
before adding the rest.
Can you smell it yet?
Yeah!
Add the big pieces too.
Then we'll let all of the tomatoes cook together for another 30 seconds.
We'll add the mushrooms.
The mushrooms we'll let cook for 20-30 seconds
before transferring everything to a large pot.
This is a pot for making soup.
Set it down and transfer everything.
We don't need to put any oil in.
Pour it all in.
Today, I'm using a can of chicken broth.
This is 14 oz of chicken broth.
Also, 3 cups of water, which is about 24 oz.
We'll use hot water to save time.
All right, put the lid on.
What else can you add to this dish?
Shrimp! Seafood.
Yes, seafood too.
Fish?
Yes, anything!
Everything!
You can put anything in this soup.
This soup, the major idea is that the tomatoes bring a lot of the flavor
so you can add other flavors inside too.
You don't have to follow these ingredients.
After about a minute and a half with the lid on,
we're going to add our tofu.
Let's add the tofu.
Nice, big pot of soup.
Now, with the lid on and the heat on high
we're going to let it come to a boil
which will be around 10 minutes.
It's boiling now.
The tomato soup is boiling, so lower the heat.
All right, add the slurry.
Slowly mix it up first.
When you add the slurry, turn the heat low.
If it's on high heat, the slurry will clump up.
All right, I'm adding the slurry now.
Slowly stir while pouring the slurry in.
It's starting to thicken up.
At this point, you can add more starch slurry
for your desired consistency of soup.
My dad added in a bit more slurry
with 1 tbsp of cornstarch and 2 tbsp of water.
That looks okay.
Now we're going to turn the heat back up
before adding 2 tbsp of ketchup.
Beat the eggs.
This is similar to Daddy Lau's egg flower soup
but notice that the eggs are not very well beaten
leaving some bits of egg whites and yolks separate.
Make sure that the heat is still on high when you're pouring in the egg
so that it will cook quickly.
The eggs have all floated to the top.
Let's add 1 tsp salt.
2 tbsp sugar.
1 tsp sesame oil.
All right, it's basically done.
Isn't it nice?
Have a taste.
Make sure it's right.
Nice!
A little tart, right?
Okay!
Let's put it in a serving bowl.
Tomato Tofu Soup, complete!
Hong Doy, come eat!
Wow!
This is my favorite soup.
Is it? Wow!
Cheers! Tomato Tofu Soup!
Cheers!
Hong Doy, do you want to have soup?
Drink more soup.
This is my question too, but did you have this in China?
Yes! We did.
As kids?
Not as kids, actually.
I had, but my mother cooked this soup with much less stuff than right now.
They didn't have ketchup, so you kind of just used sugar.
Just sugar and soy sauce, some salt.
Actually, sugar and salt makes the tomato soup taste good too.
I like this soup because it increases my appetite.
If you don't like tomatoes, there's nothing to...
We can't help you.
But if you like tomatoes, this is a really good soup.
I think even if you don't like tomatoes, you should give it a try.
It's a nice, sweet flavor.
You don't taste the tomato as much.
Tomatoes in salads are sometimes really punchy.
Pah! Punch you in the face.
This is subtle.
Also, I love tomatoes because of its nutrition.
The nutrition is very good.
Did we convert you? Do you like tomatoes now?
Yeah!
No, I mean, I sometimes like it.
Certain times, it's like way too tangy for me.
This is good.
We did it!