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

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

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