Yeong Tow Foo!

Can also be known as stuffed veggies or stuffed beancurd if translated directly from its Chinese name, it is a common food in Malaysia and a favourite among all races too! This food originated from the Hakka people but it has evolved to suit everyone's tastes and preferences. The stuffing is either made from fish paste, meat paste or a combination of mince pork and fish.

And here it goes...

First, you'll need fish and mince pork. I used Tenggiri fish or the Spanish Mackerel (Gao Yue in Cantonese). If you're not sure how the fish looks, feel free to ask your friendly fish monger in the market. The fish monger whom I bought from was very friendly and helpful. She gave great information about the fish and how to do it : ) OK OK... back to topic: Once the fish has been thawed completely, scrape the flesh from its skin. Be careful not to scrape out the bones as the bones near the fins are quite fine. You can ask your fish monger to 'butterfly' your fish, separating the flesh from its spinal bone. That way, you'll be able to scrape easily.

Scrape, scrape, scrape!

And mince mince mince!

Once the flesh has been scrapped out, sprinkle some salt and mince them. At the beginning, use the knife to mince it. Then as you continue to mince the fish into paste, use the blunt side of the knife.  After you mince it, fold the flesh towards the centre of the mince. It is as though you are folding a dough. Keep repeating these steps until the flesh becomes sticky. I think it took about 10 to 15 minutes for me but do take note that if there is alot of flesh, then it will take longer time.

When the paste is ready, mix together with your mince pork. Season it with sesame oil, pepper, salt, 2 to 3 tablespoons of corn flour and an egg to bind everything together. Give it a good mix and you are ready to stuff your veggies!

Now here comes the assembling part - I used brinjal and fried tofu. For the brinjal, cut it into chunks and slid in the middle of the brinjal pieces. You can use big chillis, lady's finger and even the white squared tofu to stuff the meat. For those, you'll just need to slid the veggie, and empty out the seeds inside it.

When all is done, fry them in hot oil. You can either deep fry or shallow fry them. Remember to fry all sides to ensure the meat is entirely cooked.

After much preparation, we can finally tuck into our home made Yeong Tow Foo! I must say, it is much more delicious than those in the shops. The texture of the meat was just right, it wasn't too meaty and neither was it too fishy as well. The flavours from the stuffing enhances the vegetables and the tofu. Hmmm, I must do this again! I think my smile was stretched from one eye to the other ^_^

TheLoyalFan says: 'Tastes like commercial Yeong Tow Foo. If only there were Sui Kows (Dumplings)...'

Well, with much sweat, blood and tears, I ate every bite with much appreciation for those Yeong Tow Foo sellers. It was a tedious process to prepare this, but I am really happy that I have learnt to make this : )

Till then, happy nomming and have a fantastic week ahead!