Vegetarian Dish With Fresh Beancurd Skin/Tao Pao

This is a very common vegetarian dish for the chinese here . It has been quite a while since the last time I cooked this dish., if I am not mistaken...it was on  the 2nd day of  Chinese New Year this year...a few months already and now I have a sudden craving for it .  I found this special fresh beancurd skin, stacked in layers , which the chinese named it ' tao pao ' at the Kg Simee market...boy , this is my first time eating  ' tao pao '  and I love it !  I asked the seller how I should cook it and he taught me how to lightly deep fried the ' tao pao ' and add them to the chinese vegetarian dish.  Wow, we love it and shall cook this dish again !

This special ' tao pao' as shown here below has a very nice soft chewy texture, you can really taste the soy milk in them :)  A piece of this size  5" X 5" X 1" thick costs only RM3 !  Cheap and better than those dried ones.  For Ipohans, you can get this ' tao pao ' from the van selling only tofu  outside the Kg.Simee market. You have to go there early if you don't want to be disappointed...as the saying goes...early bird catches the worm :p

the fresh ' beancurd skin '  you can open them up

and cut into smaller pieces before frying them

in grapeseed oil.....I normally use grapeseed in all

my cooking and grapeseed oil is healthy and can take high heating. 

this is how it looks after deep frying...crisp on the outside

and soft and tender on the inside.....do not over fried them

add the fried ' tao pao ' last and the surprising thing

is... it doesn't absorb the gravy like a sponge...perfect for

this vegetarian dish :)

ingredients for this dish are wood ear fungus, dried mushrooms, 

napa cabbage, gingko, glass vermicelli and 

the star of this dish - ' tao pao '

and the important ingredients for making this dish

is the red fermented beancurd ( nam yue )

I can eat this alone without rice :)

and just  this dish can make me happy

Vegetarian Dish With Fresh Beancurd Skin/Tao Pao 

Ingredients:-

1 napa cabbage - cut into 1" length

dried wood ear fungus - soaked and cleaned - amount to individual taste

dried mushrooms  - soaked and cleaned - amount to individual taste

some gingko nuts

glass vermicelli - soaked and cut into 3 " length

fresh beancurd skin or  ' tao pao ' - deep fried

a few pips of  garlic - sliced

3  pieces of red fermented beancurd / nam yue 

1 cup of water

grapeseed oil / vegetable oil for deep frying the beancurd skin

Method:

Deep fried the beancurd skin with grapeseed oil, dish up and drain off excess oil on paper towel and leave aside.

Heat up wok with 3 tbsp of grapeseed oil , add in garlic and red fermented bean curd and saute for 5 minutes , add in the wood ear fungus, mushrooms, gingko and the cut napa cabbage and stir fry till well mixed.  Add 1 cup of water and cover wok and lower heat and simmer till the vegetables are soft. Add in more water if required.  Add in the glass vermicelli and fried ' tao pao ' and stir mix into the cooked veggie.  Dish up and serve hot with rice.

Note: 

Red bean curd is a type of preserved bean curd (also called fermented bean curd), consisting of cubes of bean curd that have been preserved in rice wine, fermented red rice and other seasonings. Fermented bean curd is sold in jars in Chinese markets. A popular brand is Fu-Chung (pictured in the photo), which contains quite a bit of sauce in the jar along with the cubes. In Chinese cooking, a small amount of fermented bean curd is used to add flavor to everything from rice and congee to vegetable stir-fries and braised dishes.

A simple and delicious vegetarian dish...the 'tao pao ' makes this dish special !

Hope this dish will cheer you up..today Monday is a lazy day...after the long hols for

Malaysian :)

*          *          *