When you think of beancurd or tofu, it might not sound terribly exciting.
But what about crispy beancurd skin stuffed with savoury fish? Crunchy on the outside, warm and chewy on the inside, this dish, also known as fu chuk, is delicious!
Take it up a notch by adding it to a Chinese-style clear soup or eat as a snack dipped in a sweet and spicy sauce. It goes well with basic soy sauce, but you can augment the flavour by adding grated ginger, sugar, hoisin sauce, chilli oil, or even sambal.
Deep fried beancurd skin stuffed with fish paste is commonly found in Chinese soups and yong tau foo, as well as in dim sum restaurants, where it is eaten by itself with a sauce.
While it is easily found at many eateries and hawker stalls in Malaysia, there’s nothing quite like making it fresh at home. This recipe uses readymade fish paste available in many supermarkets and wet markets. Go on, give it a try.
Ingredients
- 2 pieces hard fu chuk or bean curd sheets
- a handful of fatt choy (black moss)
- 300g fish paste
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 cup refined cooking oil
- 1 stalk spring onions, finely chopped
Method
- In a bowl, combine the fish paste, chopped spring onions, fatt choy, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.
- Gently pat the pieces of fu chuk with slightly damp cloth to remove all traces of dust that may have settled on it.
- Unfold the fu chuk upon a clean dry surface and spread the mix evenly onto half of the sheet. Once complete, fold the other half over and pat it down.
- Cut the fu chuk with the fish paste into small squares.
- In a wok of hot oil, deep-fry the fu chuk squares piece by piece until each is golden brown and crispy.
- Using steel tongs, pick out the fried pieces and place them on paper napkins to absorb excess oil.
- When they have cooled slightly, enjoy them in soups, with a dipping sauce, or on their own!
A simple dipping sauce recipe
Mix together:
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp basic sambal sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
- some sugar to taste (optional)
This article first appeared in butterkicap.com, a food and culture platform and community that enables anyone to experience Malaysia through stories of her people, food and places.