Quenelle Fried Tofu

Name: Quenelle Fried Tofu (Pei Pa Dou Fu)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: ¼ of a thumb-size piece of ginger; 2 cloves of garlic; ¼ teaspoon salt; 6 whole green beans; 1 teaspoon pure sesame oil; ¼ teaspoon white pepper; 3 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch); 3 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch); 1½ tablespoons Lee Kum Kee vegetarian stir-fry sauce (swapsies: oyster sauce); 1 egg yolk; ½ tablespoon light soy sauce; 1½ tablespoons Lee Kum Kee vegetarian stir-fry sauce (swapsies: oyster sauce); 300 ml (10 fl oz/1¼ cups) mushroom soaking water (see method); 3 drops of dark soy sauce; 1 spring onion (scallion); 1 spring onion (scallion); ½ a thumb-size piece of ginger; 1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch); 3 tablespoons water; 3 whole pak choi; 1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch); 1 whole steamed salted egg; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) fresh firm tofu; vegetable oil, for frying; 4 dried shiitake mushrooms

Pei Pa Dou Fu

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Hong Kong Diner

By Jeremy Pang

Published 2017

About

Also known as ‘Pear-Shaped Tofu’, this dish is often cooked in restaurants using a mixture of prawns (shrimp) and tofu. This version, however, is just as good without the prawns, fully vegetarian if desired. The whole salted egg adds a little texture and flavour to the tofu quenelles.

Ingredients

½ a thumb-size piece of ginger
1 spring onion (scallion)
3 whole pak

Asia
Hong Kong (China)
Main course
Vegetarian

Method

Soak the shiitake mushrooms in hot water for a minimum of 2 hours, or ideally overnight, then drain, reserving the soaking water. Finely slice the ginger and roughly chop the spring onion (scallion). Slice the pak choi into quarters, lengthways.

Boil the salted egg for 10 minutes, then peel and mash with a fork. Press the fresh tofu for 10–15 minutes by placing a couple of pieces