Taufoo with Minced Meat inspired by Joe Tata

When I was young, my mom's uncle used to stay with us from time to time. We used to call him Joe Tata. See, Tata is the tamil word for Grandfather and for many years, I simply thought his name was Joe. Even my friends used to call him Uncle Joe. Much later, I found out that he actually hailed from Johor. My eldest brother, when he was but a wee lad, couldn't say Johor Tata - which is what he should have been referred to and he ended up calling him Jo Tata. Hence the name!

He was a lovely albeit strange fellow. He would read the newspapers - the front page, page two, then the back page, then the inner back page. He would then promptly peel off the first sheet and pass it to you to read. He'd then repeat this exercise with the remaining sheets. The most amazing thing though was that he would then reassemble the paper and it would be as good as when before he began reading it. I kid you not.
He was also a fabulous cook. He may have been vegetarian, but the dishes he cooked were just delightful. He was meticulous about his cooking too. Each bean would be cut the exact same length. When he diced tomatoes, each would be the same size. Amazing chap really. There are a lot more stories that I fondly remember about Jo Tata but suffice to say that he inspired this dish and also this post.




This dish is a take on something he used to do with beancurd or taufoo as we call it. Granted he used to make this pure vege but I added some chicken to it. He used to squeeze the bean curd in his hands to crumble it up and this is exactly how I made it too! This is what i did:

Ingredients
2 cloves garlic
1 large onion
300g minced chicken
5 tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp chilli sauce
2 tsp worcesthershire sauce
4 bean curd squares

Method
Chop garlic and slice onions finely. Sautee in a little oil till soft. Add in roughly cut tomatoes and cook till soft. Add in the minced chicken and cook till meat is well done. Add in the sauces and then with your hand, crumble the bean curd in and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.



This dish is perfect eaten with rice. I had my parents over for dinner and I asked my Mom if the dish reminded her of anything. At first she said it reminded her of a mince Taufoo dish from a chinese restuarant. When I told her that it was just like
the dish Joe Tata used to make, she smiled and remarked. "He was a strict vegetarian, he never used chicken in his cooking - but I guess if you took the chicken out, it is like his taufoo dish."

There's just no fooling Mom is there...!

Bean (Curd + Sprouts) = Taufoo and Taugeh, and I can prove it mathematically!

Sorry for trying to be clever but I couldn't resist this! See, the equation Bean(Curd + sprouts) when simplified would give you Beancurd + Beansprouts and this is exactly what this simple dish is. In Malaysia, we refer to Beancurd as Taufoo (Tofu) while bean sprouts are known as Taugeh. So, this lovely dish is simply Taufoo and Taugeh! See? Proven mathematically too!




The Lovely Wife likes to make this dish and the kids and I love to eat it! It is superb with rice, especially as a side dish. The beauty of this dish, aside from how simple it is to cook, is the fact that it goes well with any sort of cuisine. It goes well as an accompaniment to a curry as well as Chinese food.

This is what she does:

Ingredients:

200g Bean sprouts
3 squares bean curd
1 red chilli (seeded)
handful of curry leaves
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce

Method
Chop onions, garlic and chilli. Sautee together with curry leaves in a little oil. Cube the beancurd and add to the pan, stirring well to cook through. Add the bean sprouts together with the oyster sauce and a little water if needed. Stir fry quickly. Season with a little salt and pepper if needed.



Could something so simple be so tasty? You better believe it. This is also a great vegetarian recipe too!

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!