Yong tau foo actually YENTAFO
in Thailand, is a Hakka Chinese cuisine consisting primarily
of tofu filled with ground meat mixture or fish paste.
Variation of this food include vegetables and mushrooms stuffed with ground
meat or surimi. Yong tau foo is eaten in numerous ways, either dry with a sauce
or served as a soup dish.
It is commonly found in parts
of China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
and Thailand, and in cities where there are
large Hakka, Teochew and Hokkien population.
Traditional Hakka versions of yong tau foo consists of tofu cubes stuffed and
heaped with minced meat (usually lamb or pork) and herbs, then fried until
golden brown, or sometimes braised, Variations include usage of various
condiments, including eggplants, shiitake mushrooms, and bitter
melon stuffed with the same meat paste. Traditionally, yong tau foo is
served in a clear yellow bean stew along with the bitter melon and shiitake
variant, Particularly in the Southeast Asian Hakka diaspora, the term
"yong tau foo" is used to describe a soup dish that substitutes
minced meat with fish paste (surimi).[3] The base of the dish is
various forms of tofu stuffed with fish paste, but it is now common to stuff
vegetables like bitter melon, ladies fingers, chilis with
fish paste as well, and the soup can include other ingredients like fish
balls, crab sticks, cuttlefish, sausages, etc. The foods are
then sliced into bite-size pieces, cooked briefly in boiling broth and then
served either in the broth as soup or with the broth in a separate bowl
("dry"). The dish is eaten with chopsticks and a soup
spoon and can be eaten by itself or served with a bowl of steamed
rice, noodles or rice vermicelli. Another variation of this dish
would be to serve it with laksa gravy or curry sauce.
Essential accompaniments are a spicy, vinegary chili sauce, originally made
with red fermented bean curd and distantly similar in taste
to Sriracha sauce, and a distinctive brown sweet bean
sauce or hoisin sauce for dipping.[1]
In Malaysia, particularly
the Klang Valley, yong tau foo is often associated with the city
of Ampang, Selangor, just outside the eastern end of Kuala Lumpur.
Thai yentafo, while
otherwise similar, has a distinct pink colored-broth due to the use
of fermented bean paste, which may be supplemented by blood or food
colouring.
