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| Pipa Tofu |
I remember starting the prep work whilst Isabelle was at the childminder. It was about 5pm. "One hour should be enough" I thought. At 5.30pm, K called and I asked if he could pick Isabelle up instead as I was still busy preparing "a surprise dinner dish". I had to keep turning my head to check the recipes. See the thing is, I found two recipes and as I couldn't decide which was better, I decided to amalgamate both. Cue smarty pants.
Hubby and Isabelle stepped into the door at 6.30pm and the kitchen "smelt heavenly" according to K. I was very busy pan frying the individual tofu dishes. He was surprised at me trying this dish, and kept rubbing his hands saying "wow you have outdone yourself with this one!". Erm thanks, I was trying to stay positive and all I wanted to do was to go through frying all the tofu pieces which was honestly, taking forever.
We don't have any deep fryer and we almost never cooked any deep fried food in our kitchen. I always wonder what do I do with the leftover oil? Anyway what I did was to pan fry the pieces in batches of 5. I ended up with more than 30 pieces of pipa tofu, to be eaten between two of us.
Finally at 730pm I collapsed into our dining chair and declared to a hungry husband that "dinner can finally be served!" I smelt like oily tofu all over and all I wanted was to run upstairs to take a nice shower to rid of the oil smell, change into my PJs and crash into bed. No mention of sinking my teeth into the delicious dish.
The dish was good, don't get me wrong. A good first attempt, dare I say. Mental note to myself should I be brave to try it again, is to have more kitchen towel to soak up the oil. And half the recipe! Hubby enjoyed the dish but when he saw my end state, he suggested this could be the first and the last time I cook Pipa Tofu.
I don't know, I might muster the courage again someday, but for now, recipe to share below :)
Pi Pa Tofu
Ingredients
Tofu mix:
450g pressed tofu, mashed
Prawns x6 (I used large prawns), chopped finely
250g minced pork
1 large carrot, finely grated
6 pcs medium sized Shitake mushrooms, soaked and chopped
3 stalks of spring onions, chopped
A handful of coriander, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle of sesame oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 egg
1/4 cup all purpose flour
For the sauce:
1/2 inch ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1stalk of spring onion, sliced diagonally
1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
300ml of water
To thicken: 1 tablespoon of corn starch mixed with 3 tablespoons of water
Steps
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients under 'tofu mix' together. Break tofu up with a fork and mix all other ingredients well. Add egg and cornflour last of all.
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| The mixture of tofu, pork, prawns amongst many other ingredients |
Prepare the tofu pieces by using two dessert spoons, carefully "quenelle" the tofu mix. Lay it in a pan of hot oil. Extra care with turning as you don't want them to disintegrate. Fry in batches of no more than 6 as you want to maintain the high heat, 5-6 minutes on each side until they turn golden brown. Remove from hot oil and drain on (lots of) kitchen paper. I had to keep replenishing the cooking oil as they were very quickly absorbed by the tofu mix. This is the most tedious step.
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| The start of my pan frying journey that evening. Patience very much needed! |
Sauce - mix the ingredients together and set aside. In a pan, heat up some oil and fry the ginger and spring onion. Pour sauce into pan and let it boil. Stir in the cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce. Transfer tofu pieces into this pan to be cooked together with the sauce for a few minutes.
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| Finally :) |
Serve and enjoy!
Sources:
https://cookpad.com/uk/recipes/416712-pipa-tofu?via=search&search_term=Mary%20ann%20sia
https://www.uk.lkk.com/pei-pa-tofu
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