Dad's "Should be World Famous" Yong Taufu

My Dad makes the best "yong taufu" which is fish paste stuffed in beancurd puffs or vegetables like eggplant, capsicum, chili and okra which is then fried or added to broth (trust me, it's tastier than it sounds). My Dad doesn't cook much but he does have a few special dishes up his sleeve that he makes now and then, which is well worth the wait.

A true Chinese cook doesn't really have a recipe that he follows as a lot depends on the feel of the ingredients you are working with at the time. In general Dad debones 2 mackerel cutlets and chops with Chinese meat cleaver on a wooden chopping board (don't even think about using a food processor, it needs to be done the traditional Chinese way for authenticity). Add water to the paste with a couple of teaspoons of salt and mix until the the paste is smooth and thick (if you can stand a spoon in the mixture, it's ready).

Cut the beancurd puff in half diagonally, make a slit and stuff with the fish paste.

Add a little oil in a wok and using super long wooden chopsticks (again to add to the authenticity), cook the beancurd puff, fish side down, until lightly brown.

Mum then takes over and makes the gravy with soy bean sauce. Add a little oil to the wok with a couple of teaspoons of soy bean sauce. Towards the end of the cooking (which is just to heat up the stuffed bean curd as it is cooked), add a cornflour water mix (in a small bowl, mix 1 teaspoon of cornflower with water) to thicken the gravy. For Mum, a dish is incomplete without chopped spring onion so sprinkle generously!