Steamed Stuffed Tofu

EVERYTHING BY: Taste Hong Kong

Ingredients
400g soft tofu
200g shrimp (including shell)
Seasonings for shrimps
1 tbsp finely chopped spring onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp corn starch
1 tsp ground white pepper

Method:
1) Shell, devein, rinse shrimps and pat dry. Mince them with a food processor, add seasonings and stir well in one direction. Put in fridge for about half an hour before use.

2) Pat dry tofu, cut it into bite sizes and organize them on a plate. Use a small spoon to sprinkle some corn starch on top of each piece of tofu for gluing the topping (we need a little patient here as not to spill the corn starch on the plate).

Evenly spread a portion of the minced and chilled shrimp on top of tofu. Steam over medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Add soy sauce and oil to taste. Serve hot.

Tip
Spread the minced shrimp on tofu as we would do it with jam on bread. Difference is, we should do it gently in order not to disintegrate the tofu. Besides, the shrimp after minced is sticky, therefore, we may need two pieces of knives to play around. In shaping ‘shrimp paste’, wet knives to reduce the stickiness.

Steamed Eggs – How to Make Them Smooth From Taste Hong Kong

RECIPE AND PHOTO BY: Taste Hong Kong

Ingredients:
2 eggs
6 halved egg shells of boiled water
(water : egg = 1.5 : 1)
soy sauce to taste
sesame oil to taste

Method:
"Beat eggs, add cooled boiled water to egg and mix well. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a steam-proof dish. Or, you may remove the bubbles with a spoon. I’m less skillful in cleaning off the bubbles without discarding some egg juice at the same time. Therefore, using a sieve to me is more efficient.

Set up a rack with water in wok. You may need a higher rack that would suspend the dish above the water surface.

Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Place the dish with beaten eggs on a rack, then top the dish with a flat plate. Cover lid; turn to low heat and steam for 15 minutes (the egg mixture in my dish is about 1.5cm thick). Open and check if the eggs are coagulated by gently shaking the dish. Having a plate-lifter and a towel shall help move the dishes easily.

Top the steamed eggs with a dash of soy sauce and sesame oil (I haven’t included any seasonings in the egg mixture; if you have any, you may not need to add soy sauce). Serve hot.

Enjoy your variations with the additions of green onions, shrimps, scallops, meat...

In case you are new to steaming eggs, I believe a few notes below would also help.

Using halved egg shell for measurement
Doing such eliminates estimations as you don’t need to bother whether the eggs are small or large. Besides, it is also convenient. For every one egg, I measure water in its halved shell three times.

Using boiled water than tap water
I can’t offer a scientific explanation, but using cooled down boiled water helps make the egg custard smoother.

Suspending dish above water
This is to avoid having too much boiling water hitting the base of the dish, thus overheating the egg and creating some sponge-like texture inside. Perhaps in this case, I tend to become a perfectionist."

My Simple Steam Eggs

In my childhood my grandparents and parents would always make this dish. The egg texture would be firm, hot, just full of yumminess. When I make it at home I always have trouble with replicating the texture. Sometimes the texture is loose with filled with water but I found a recipe technique from KimcheeBeyond that helps but there wasn't any liquid based soup after cooked maybe I need to add a bit more water. My parents don't use the aluminum foil technique. I didn't have a wok so I used a pan or a wire thing so I put the bowl directly onto the pan.

Ingredient:

2 eggs, beat

water

salt and granulate chicken bouillon 

oil

soy sauce

Instruction:

In a ceramic bowl beat the eggs. add the rest of the ingredients, by instinct and intuition but the oil and soy sauce are optional, carefully beat agian. Cover the bowl with aluminium foil (optional) and then cover the pan to steam it for 10 or less minutes. Check for readiness by using a spoon or knife to see if egg mixture is fully cook.

add soy sauce if not salty enough like I did (bottom picture)

Steamed Egg Tofu with Minced Meat

ADAPTION RECIPE FROM NOOBCOOK and another one I don't know where I found it.

I combine two recipes into one. Mostly because I didn't have the ingredients and made due of what I have and what I want in it.

The meat mixture I used ground turkey which is what I had in hand. I also added dried black fungus, dried shiitake mushroom, mince carrot maybe, salt, chicken granule bouillon, maybe soy sauce, olive oil, chinese cooking wine, cornflour, and white pepper powder.

For the tofu I only had my favorite one I always buy. So I steamed as it instructed and follow pouring the excess liquid in bowl and heated some oil to pour over it and add some soy sauce.

Self Note:
It seem like the final liquid was enough but it wasn't I should have added more sauce and oil. The tofu tasted great and made me think I should cook more steam tofu dishes drizzled with hot oil and soy sauce.

2 Steamed Tofu with Pork Mince recipes I combine these two:


Ingredients:
75 gm pork mince
15 gm Tianjin preserved vegetable
3 slices silken tofu
a dash vegetable oil, heated in a small saucepan

Marinade Meat:
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornflour
a pinch white pepper

Method:
1. Rinse preserved vegetable and squeeze out excess water. Mix pork mince with marinade and preserved vegetable well. Divide pork into three equal parts and make a small disc with clean hands.
2. Place tofu slices on a plate. Carefully put pork onto tofu. Steam in a wok over high heat for 20 minutes, or until pork is cooked through, colour changed. Discard excess water in the plate if necessary, sprinkle spring onion for garnish. Drizzle with hot oil and soy sauce. Serve hot.

Ingredients:

- 1 tube silken egg tofu 蛋豆腐 (150g)

- 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

- 15 wolfberries, soaked in water till puffy (about 20 minutes)

- 1/2 stalk spring onion, sliced thinly or cut to wispy strips 

(A) Meat and marinade:

- 50g minced pork (can substitute with chicken) and shrimp (optional)

- 1/2 stalk spring onion, sliced thinly

- a few thin carrot slices (peeled using a vegetable peeler, stacked together and finely chopped)

- 1 tsp light soy sauce

- 1/2 tsp sesame oil

- 1 tsp cornflour

- dash of white pepper powder

- 1 tsp Chinese cooking wine 

Directions:

1. Cut egg tofu in half along the “dotted line” (if any), remove packaging and cut to thin and even slices (see detailed step by step photos). Arrange tofu pieces on a steaming plate (with a bit of depth).

2. Mix ingredients in (A) evenly in a small bowl and allow to sit for at least a few minutes.

3. Mould a small amount of the marinaded meat mixture (about 1 tsp or less) into a ball and place on top of tofu slices. Top each meat ball with a wolfberry. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp light soy over the tofu slices.

4. Steam over high heat for about 5 minutes (starting from the time the water in steamer is boiling), or until the meat is cooked (see cooking note 1 below). Before serving, use a spoon to drizzle the soy liquid collected in the plate over the tofu slices. Garnish with chopped spring onions.