Braised Beancurds (鱼香烩豆干)

Toufu and tau kwa, both are our family's favourite. High in nutrition and easy on the pockets. And hence i added this dish on our dining table tonight. The kids love the savory gravy and I love the flavors-infused tau kwas. 

Ingredients:

- square tau kwa, cut into 4 triangles and halved to become thinner

- snow beans (amt up to u. I used abt 7)

- carrots slices

- China leeks (cut diagonal into 1 or 1.5inches long)

- corn starch (for thickening gravy)

- chopped garlic

- mushrooms (any type)

Sauce:

- 2 tbsp oyster sauce

- 1 tbsp concentrated chicken stock

- 1 tsp sesame oil

- 1 tsp light soy sauce

- half cup water

Steps:

1. Heat the frying pan with oil (enough to cover half the tau kwa) to semi hot. The oil should not be too hot as the tau kwa may brown too quickly or burnt. As a litmus test, u can drop one slice into the warm oil and small bubbles should be seen. 

2. When frying, take out a small pot to boil some water. When boiling, throw in the snow beans, some oil (use from the frying pan) and pinch of salt to blanch for a minute. This is to rid the raw taste in the snow beans. 

3. When the fragrance of the tau kwa surfaced, that's when you can gently flip them to the other side. You should see a nice brown colour. Dish up and set aside. Pour out excess oil into a bowl, leaving about a tbsp worth in the pan. 

4. Add in the other ingredients in this order: leeks and garlic, mushroom, carrots and snow beans and fry. Add some water. 

5. Add in the tau kwa. Note: do not fry them yet. You don't want to break your tau kwa although they are hardier than toufu. 

6. Add in the half cup of water follow by the sauce. You can now either use your spatula to stir the mixture, still not "disturbing" the tau kwa. Or, u can train your wrist power by swirling the pan so that the mixture inside is mixing well. 

7. Leave it to braise over medium heat for about 5 mins. The gravy will start to reduce as they get infused into the tau kwa. Gravy will also start to thicken a little thou still looks thin. 

8. At this point, OFF the fire. Using a fork, gently stir the corn starch mixture and drip the mixture into the pan. Swirl the pan very slightly. Once done, u may start the fire again, simmer for another 45secs and you may dish up. 

You may ask, why off the fire before adding corn starch? The starch is just a thickening agent. We don't want to cook it (as in over fire) as that may alter the taste. 

Enjoy this over steamed rice or plain porridge. 

Happy mum