Stuffed Vegetables
In soybean broth – YONG TAU FOO –
SINGAPORE / MALAYSIA
Ordering from a yong tau foo stall is one of the more exciting experiences one can get at a hawker centre in Singapore. The best ones have shelves decked with a dizzying array of stuffed tofu and vegetables, fishballs, fresh greens and mushrooms. Much like a ‘pick-and-mix’ salad/sandwich bar, you get to customize your own healthy bowl of soup. Yong tau foo originally referred to tofu stuffed with fish paste, but the dish has evolved to include lots of different fish-paste-stuffed vegetables. The Hakka version adds minced meat to the paste and fries the stuffed pieces before dropping them into the broth; I’ve adopted the latter tip in this recipe. Feel free to use whatever vegetables you fancy, as long as they can be stuffed. My summer combination includes aubergines, courgettes and chilli peppers.
- 4 red or green chillies
- 1 baby aubergine
- 1 courgette
- 250g fish paste (see here)
- 4 tablespoons groundnut oil
- 150g organic soybeans, soaked overnight
- 1 large handful of dried anchovies (ikan bilis)
- 1.5 litres water
- sea salt, to taste
- a dash of white pepper
- a handful of chopped spring onions
- To prepare the broth, drain the soybeans and rinse the dried anchovies. You might like to place the dried anchovies in a little muslin pouch, for easy removal later. Put into a pot with the water, bring to the boil, then simmer steadily for 20 minutes. Unlike other stocks, this broth does not benefit from a lengthy simmer; the anchovies will turn the broth bitter if cooked for too long. Taste and season with salt.
- Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Slice the chillies lengthwise halfway and remove the seeds. Cut the aubergine and courgette into 2cm thick rounds, then cut into each slice on the side to make a slit. Stuff the vegetables with about a tablespoon of fish paste each. Any extra fish paste can be formed into fishballs.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Fry the stuffed vegetables over a medium heat, turning them until golden all over. Transfer to kitchen paper to remove any excess oil.
- Bring the broth back up to the boil. Divide the yong tau foo between bowls, pour the hot broth over, and finish with white pepper and a sprinkle of chopped spring onions. You can choose to have this with your favourite type of noodle, or plain steamed rice.