Mongolian Tau Foo

My wife and I love food. We love eating and we love trying out new recipes. In fact, food played an important in the early days when we were first dating where most of our evening outings would be spent exploring some new food haunt.

One of my favourite Chinese restaurants is the South Pacific Restaurant, near State Cinema, PJ. It's not one of those fancy Chinese restaurants but more like a hawker shop/coffee shop sort of place. Malayian's know exactly the kind of place I am talking about.

To my foreign blog friends, picture tables laid out on the sidewalk and on the roadside carpark. Picture a clean, tiled floor, red table cloths and plastic chairs. This is your quintessential chinese coffee shop/restaurant where the food is Top Rate and the prices very, very reasonable.

I had been patronising this joint for many years so much so that the 'captain' recognises me and ushers me to my favourite table. What better way to impress a girlfriend eh? And the girlfriend (now wife) was suitably impressed. Needless to say, it takes a lot more to get the wife (formerly easily impressed girlfriend) impressed nowadays...

Anyway, one of the dishes that I have always loved at this Restaurant is the Mongolian Tau Foo (otherwise known as Bean Curd or Tofu)

Don't ask me what is Mongolian about it! Basically, its a dish made with a mix of minced chicken, bean curd, dried chilli, capsicum, black bean sauce and who knows what else. It is truly tasty and both my wife and I enjoyed this dish immensely. I would always look sadly at the empty plate.

One day, after we were married, I suggested to my wife that we should go out for dinner to get some 'Mongolian Taufoo'. She surprised me by saying that rather than go out, why didn't she make it for me?

I was skeptical. I was doubtful. But I thought I would humour her. Now don't get me wrong. My wife was and still is a fabulous cook. But there was no way she could make a Mongolian Taufoo dish. After all, she wasn't the one that could whip up a dish without recipes. She's the kind that likes to follow recipes, quite unlike me. But I was wrong.....

She did it and she did it fine! It was just like the original! I ate it..No! I devoured it!

Nine years later (we celebrated our anniversary on the 26th Sept) my wife still makes a pretty good Mongolian Taufoo. The years have taken its toll though. Her Mongolian Taufoo just isn't the same as it used to be. It's a damned sight Better...!

This is the recipe:

Ingredients
500g minced chicken
Two rolls of Japanase Tau Foo (Egg Beancurd)
2 large onions - sliced
5 dried chillis - cut into large pieces
3 cloves garlic - chopped
1 large tomato - sliced
1 green capsicum
1/4 tsp black bean paste
1/2 tsp plum sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp chilli garlic sauce
dash of dark soya sauce (thick soya sauce)
3 tbsp water

Method
Slice the tau-foo thinly and then fry until golden - set aside.

Sautee the garlic, onions and chilli. Add tomatoes and cook until a paste forms. Mix all the sauces with the water and add to pan. Cook until the mixture bubbles and reduces somewhat. Add the chicken and mix well until chicken is well cooked.


Add the taufoo and capsicum. Sprinkle with chopped coriander.



Serve with rice. Yummy!