Whenever the husband goes out to town, I go a little soy-crazy. I love my soy products. Silky tofu, firm tofu, egg tofu, tau pok, tau kee, tau huay, soy milk… you name it, I love it. Unfortunately, the husband isn’t a big fan of soy products. Maybe I should be more specific, the husband does not like soy products at all. *insert sad face here*
So I rarely make any kind of soy beancurd dishes at home, unless of course when he travels for work, or when I cook for myself and the girls sometimes. I made this dish when the husband was away for his yearly international learning trip. This time to Vietnam. While he was enjoying his hot bowl of pho, I was busy loving me some soy.
Honestly, I could have thrown in some tau pok to the mix if I wanted to have an overkill on the soy braise pot. However, I was trying to keep the calories low, so I opted out of the fried tau pok. That night when I made this amazing braised beancurd pot, oh that night I tell you, I was propelled to food heaven every time I take a mouthful of this deliciousness. If you are a bean-curd lover like I am, I’m sure you’ll love this dish as well.
Soy Braised Beancurd Pot
Ingredients
- 2 firm tofu tau kwa, cut into cubes
- 4 pieces of dried beancurd skin tau kee
- 6 dried shitake mushrooms
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 1 tsp chinese 5 spice powder
- 3 slices of galangal
- 3 slices ginger
- 3 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 lemongrass bruised and cut into 2 inch pieces
- 1 shallot sliced thinly
- 1 tbsp shao xing wine
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp kicap manis
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1-2 tsp brown sugar or to taste
- 4 hard boiled eggs shell removed
- 500 ml hot water more if you like more gravy
- Salt and white pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- Chopped spring onions to garnish
Instructions
- Rehydrate mushrooms in the 500ml hot water.
- Reserve mushroom water for cooking later.
- Soak beancurd skin in warm water until softened. Drain and cut into smaller pieces.
- Heat pot with oil on medium high heat.
- Saute garlic, lemongrass, ginger, galangal, shallot, cinnamon, and star anise until fragrant.
- Pour water into pot, and add seasoning (dark soy, light soy, kicap manis, sugar, shao xing wine, 5 spice powder, and oyster sauce).
- Mix to combine and bring to boil.
- Add beancurd skin, tau kwa, mushrooms, and eggs.
- Bring back to a boil, and allow to simmer on low heat until sauce is reduced, and ingredients takes on a brownish hue, about 20-30 minutes.
- Give it a stir every now and then.
- Season with salt and white pepper if needed.
- Adjust seasoning to taste with more soy, salt, pepper, and/or sugar.
- Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve with steamed white rice.
