Yong Tau Foo (Air Fryer) 酿豆腐

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Yong Tau Foo 酿豆腐 is a very common local street food in Southeast Asia. In Singapore, you can almost always find a stall selling yong tau foo in food courts and hawker centres, while in Malaysia, it’s hard to miss the famous Ampang Yong Tau Foo. Literally meant ‘Stuffed Tofu’, Yong Taw Fo or Yong Tau Fo is one of the popular Hakka Chinese cuisine made by stuffing minced and seasoned meat or fish in tofu (bean curd) and vegetables such as eggplants, okra (ladies’ fingers), mushrooms, bitter gourd, chilli, capsicums. Food vendors usually serve it in yellow bean soup or curry soup, or dry drizzled with shallot oil, chilli and/or sweet sauce. 

The traditional Hakka Yong Tau Foo is typically made of tofu cubes stuffed with seasoned minced meat (either minced pork or minced lamb), then fried until golden brown, finished with a braised bean sauce. My maternal family is Hakka and we usually stuff inverted taupok skin with minced pork and fish paste, then steamed before serving. And since I’m not a big fan of steamed food, nor do I like deep frying, I decided to try it out with my Ninja Max XL Air Fryer and boy it’s really easy and quick to make delicious Yong Tau Foo. 

I picked my favourite vegetables – ladies’ fingers, eggplants – and of course taupok (tofu puffs). Season minced pork and fish paste with soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper, Shao Xing wine. I used 五花肉 / pork belly as recommended by my mummy, she said the texture of it will be better for making Yong Tau Foo. Stuffing the meat into the vegetables can be fun and using corn starch mixed with water really helps to ‘seal’ the meat within the vegetables and taupok.

If you are interested in more air fryer recipes, check these out: Air Fryer Ngoh Hiang, Air Fryer Carrot Fries, Air Fryer Lamb Chops and Potatoes.

Finally if you tried making this popular hakka dish using Air Fryer, please do share with me by dropping a comment below. Ciao and enjoy cooking!

Yong Tau Foo (Air Fryer) 酿豆腐

Yong Tau Foo is one of the popular Hakka Chinese cuisine made by stuffing minced and seasoned meat or fish in tofu (bean curd) and vegetables such as eggplants, okra (ladies’ fingers), mushrooms, bitter gourd, chilli, capsicums. Here I'm using my Ninja Air Fryer for a quick and easy version.

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 30 minutes mins

Cook Time: 30 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr

Course: dinner, lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Servings: 4 pax

Calories: 230kcal

Detailed Step-by-Step Video

Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

US CustomaryMetric

• ▢ 3 tbsp soy sauce
• ▢ 1.5 tbsp sesame oil 
• ▢ 1 tsp white pepper powder
• ▢ 1.5 tbsp Chinese Shao Xing wine
• ▢ cooking oil
• ▢ 1 tbsp corn starch, or corn flour in Asia, can be substituted with tapioca starch
• ▢ 1 tbsp corn starch , to make slurry
• ▢ 1 tbsp water, to make slurry
• ▢ 450 g minced pork belly 五花肉
• ▢ 150 g fish paste
• ▢ 8-10 ladies’ fingers
• ▢ 2-3 eggplants
• ▢ 10-12 taupok (tofu puffs)

Instructions

 

• ▢
  Mix 150 g fish paste, 450 g minced pork belly 五花肉, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 1.5 tbsp sesame oil , 1 tsp white pepper powder, 1 tbsp corn starch and 1.5 tbsp Chinese Shao Xing wine
  
• ▢
  Wash and slice 2-3 eggplants into about 4mm thick slices, slit without cutting through the middle section
• ▢
  Wash and slit 8-10 ladies’ fingers lengthwise without cutting through
• ▢
  Wash and cut 10-12 taupok (tofu puffs) on one side to open the pocket
• ▢
  Mix 1 tbsp corn starch with 1 tbsp water to make a slurry, this will be used as 'glue' for sealing.
• ▢
  Stuff meat into the vegetable and taupok, then seal with corn starch slurry.
  
• ▢
  Pre-heat air fryer at 180 degree celsius for 3 minutes
• ▢
  Place stuffed eggplant and ladies’ fingers in air fryer and take note not to overlap the vegetables
  
• ▢
  Lightly brush cooking oil all over
• ▢
  Air fry at 180 degree Celsius for 8-10 min until nicely browned
  
• ▢
  Repeat step 8 for stuffed taupok, however air fry at 180 degree celsius for about 12 min
  

Notes

You can use other vegetables such as chilli, capsicum, mushroom, etc. 

You can use just the minced pork without fish paste, or minced lamb as a substitute.

If you are serving it later, you can also steam it and keep in fridge. And then air fry before serving. However my recipe does not require steaming. 

I used the Pagoda brand corn flour I bought in Singapore. It’s a fine white coloured flour. In other parts of the world, it might be called corn starch. Apparently corn flour is a yellow coloured powder made from dried finely ground corn, and corn starch is a fine white coloured powder derived from the starchy part of a corn kernel. Corn starch is mainly used as a thickener or added to meat marinade to help tenderise the meat.