Steamed Tofu with Minced Meat

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Tofu

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I personally find that the hardest dishes to get to perfection are usually the simple fanfare.  Take for instance, frying an omelette to the perfect hue and flipping it over without breaking the egg apart, or making an onsen tamago with the right consistency - runny yolk with harden egg white, and peeling the shell off without  nicking the egg (a separate post will be dedicated to my onsen tamago soon).

Egg aside, my main lead for this post is just as bad.  Getting the tofu out of its packaging in one whole piece without breaking a corner off is harder than stir-frying sliced beef to the right doneness!  Unfortunately, the tofu didn't turn out to be as presentable as I had pictured as a result, but at least I wasn't disappointed with the taste. 

This recipe was inspired by my mum.  It was one of those quick-fix dish that she fed me and my siblings with when we were little.  No fuss, low budget but full of proteins.  I tweaked it a little by making a base sauce to go along with the tofu, but otherwise it is still fine on its own.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of tofu (either sliced into 8 pieces or used as it is)
• 100 gm of minced meat (pork of chicken works fine)
• 1/2 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of cornflour
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1 packet of Shimeji mushroom (roots removed and separated)
• 150 ml of chicken broth or water
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 100 ml of cornstarch (100 ml of water with 1 tablespoon of cornflour)

Preparation:

• Marinate minced meat with light soy sauce, sesame oil and cornflour for at least 30 minutes.
• Spread the minced meat evenly on top of tofu.
• Steam tofu for 10 minutes or until the minced meat is thoroughly cooked.
• In the meantime, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in frying pan and add in garlic.
• Add mushroom to pan and stir fry until well-cooked.
• Pour in oyster sauce and chicken broth and mix well. 
• Lower the heat and drizzle in cornstarch.  Let simmer until the sauce thickens.
• Once the tofu is done, remove from steamer and transfer to serving plate.
• Ladle sauce over tofu and serve.

Steamed Minced Meat on the spoon for someone who thinks that he will get poisoned for eating tofu!


And the kids asking that I take a photo of them with the minced meat.....