Malaysia Famous Ampang Hakka Yong Tau Foo (客家酿豆腐) - Tofu with Stuffed Fish Paste

When I was shopping at my favourite Asian grocery store in Willoughby, something caught my eyes at the freezer section:

"Hakka (客家) Fish Paste"

My heart was screaming, "I can make Hakka Yong Tau Foo (客家酿豆腐) for dinner tonight"!!! I quickly grabbed a packet of the fish paste and ran to the fridge section to look for tofu (soy bean curd) and I found this:


Not the best choice of tofu for this dish, but it's the best I could find.

We Sydneysiders are very blessed with plentiful of authentic and flavoursome Asian restaurants thanks to the many migrants from China, Japan, Korea, India, South-East Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Indochine).

However, Yong Tau Foo (Tofu with Stuffed Fish Paste) is still a fairly unknown dish in Australia. I haven't found a restaurant that serves a good plate of Yong Tau Foo. Even if they have the dish on their menu, they don't look very authentic or appetizing to me.

10 years living in Sydney, I have only come across this dish on the lunch time special menu of Istana Malaysian Restaurant in Thornleigh and a food store at Market City Food Court in Haymarket. If you know any places that serve good Yong Tau Foo, please leave a comment to let me know. Thanks.

This dish reminds me of my time with my then Dutch boyfriend Mr J in Malaysia. We worked and lived in Kuala Lumpur for 2 1/2 years before moving to Sydney. As a young 20 something Dutch, Malaysia was the first 'exotic' Asian country he has visited apart from his homeland Holland and other neighbouring European countries. He has experienced many cultural differences, including the Malaysian food scene. He has also mastered the Malaysian English by ending every sentence with "LAH" :-)

On an ordinary working Friday, a few of his food enthusiastic Chinese colleagues suggested to bring him for lunch at the famous Yong Tau Foo store in Ampang. They braved the Friday lunch time traffic to drive from Petaling Jaya to Ampang. Took them a good 3 hours for the return journey! It's a bit of a shock to him with his habit of having self-made ham & cheese sandwich lunch back in Holland. Nevertheless, he enjoyed his lunch very much.

In the same evening, we had the following conversation:

"Where did you go for lunch today, hun?"

"My colleagues brought me out for lunch at Restaurant Yong Tau Foo in Ampang."

"How was it? Do you like the food?"

"It was great. The food was delicious and the restaurant is packed full of lunch crowds with long queue waiting for tables. They even used a microphone to control the crowds."

"Good, I am glad that you enjoyed your lunch."

"Mr. Yong must be very rich. His restaurant business is so good!"

Huh? For a split second, my mind went blank. What was he talking about? Then... BINGO! I started laughing hysterically.

He didn't know 'Yong Tau Foo' means 'Tofu with Stuffed Fish Paste' in Chinese. He thought the restaurant is called Restaurant Yong Tau Foo, a restaurant owned by a Chinese gentleman named 'Yong Tau Foo'. (Yong is a very common Chinese surname and Chinese put their surname in front and first name at the end).

This has become a classic joke during many of our family reunions.

"Let's dig in to your Tofu, Mr Yong."

P/S What would you name your daughter if your surname is O'naire? Answer can be found at the end of this post.

Here comes the recipe:

Ampang Hakka Yong Tau Foo (客家酿豆腐) - Cheat Version

Ingredients

1 packet of frozen Hakka fish paste, thawed in fridge overnight* (see note at bottom of post)
6 x square semi-firm tofu
Dipping sauce of your choice* (see note at bottom of post)
Chopped spring onions and chillies for garnish

Method

1. Cut the square tofu into 2 triangles. Use a sharp knife, make a slit in the centre to create a pocket and stuff the fish paste with a small teaspoon. Continue with the rest of the tofu.
2. You can either steam or poach the tofu in chicken stock for 5 minutes or until the fish paste is cooked.
3. Garnish with spring onions and chillies.
4. Serve with steamed rice or rice noodle in chicken stock and dipping sauce.

Note: You can use the leftover fish paste to make these delicious Steamed Fish Rolls by My Kitchen Snippets.

Note: Dipping sauce - I use the combination of MasterFoods Barbecue Sauce and Indonesian ABC Brand Chili Sauce as seen in many Vietnamese Pho Restaurant.



Question: What would you name your daughter if your surname is O'naire?
Answer: Milli O'nair. (Who doesn't want to be a Millionaire??)