fish | meat loves salt

While my mom was here in DC helping us with our new baby, my dad was left to fend for himself at home. When it comes to eating, though, no one need feel too sorry for him. My mom even offered to cook and freeze him a bunch of meals for the time she’d be away, but he actually shuddered at the thought and pleaded with her not to. You see, my dad hates eating “leftovers” (yes, technically, meals made just for him and then frozen are not really leftovers, but, well, to my dad, anything less than freshly cooked and still steaming hot from the stove is considered a leftover). He also likes to make things on a whim according to whatever strikes his mood at the time, so having a freezer full of food he didn’t make himself is just not his style. Plus — and this is where it gets a bit contentious — he secretly (or not so secretly) thinks that my mom takes shortcuts in her cooking, which means her food is just not up to his standards.

So while my mom was here cooking up bun rieu and bo khoÂ for us, what was my dad making for himself at home? Fried eggs?Â Easy stir-fries or one-pot meals? No, I tell you, the man was wrapping his own dumplings and wontons. We called him one evening, and he told us he was making these stuffed vegetables I’m about to share with you. There are no boring meals when eating with my dad.

These stuffed vegetables are something my family made often while I was growing up, and I was glad to find them at the markets when I visited Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore. Yong tau fooÂ (which means “stuffed tofu”) is traditionally a Hakka dish and originally involved stuffing tofu with ground pork. These days, you’re more likely to see the dish as tofu and vegetables stuffed with fish paste, and it is really popular in Malaysia and Singapore. In our home, we actually called it yeung yeh, which means “stuffed stuff.” :)

Yong Tau FooÂ (Stuffed Tofu and Vegetables)
Serves 2 as a main dish accompanied with rice, or 4 as part of a larger meal.

You can stuff practicallyÂ any kind of vegetable you’re able create an opening in. My family’s favorites include eggplant, chili peppers, bitter melon, tomatoes, and long beans that my mom weaves into small wreaths. In Malaysia, I found that tofu puffs and okra (called lady fingers) are also very popular.

Although it is possible to make your own fish paste, after helping my mom make it once, I have to admit it can easily double or triple the time it already takes to make this dish. And it is tricky to get the paste to come out to a smooth consistency. So most of the time, we just get store-bought fish paste and add some extra seasonings and oil to make it smoother and less dense. My mom also adds an egg for richer flavor, and recently she has taken to beating the egg white separately until foamy, before adding it to the fish paste for an even smoother and lighter texture.

Traditionally these stuffed tofu and veggies are served in a broth, but nowadays you’ll see it with sauce more often than not, either on the side or cooked with the vegetables.Â

Vegetables (suggestions):
1/2 red bell pepper, deseeded and cut into four square pieces
4 long banana peppers, sliced in half, with the seeds and ribs taken out
1 tomato, cut in half and deseeded
1 long Chinese eggplant, cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces and then butterflied (sliced lengthwise almost all the way to the other edge); you can also optionally peel off strips of the skin so you don’t taste as much of the chewy skin, as well as for a pretty striped look
corn starch for dusting

Fish Paste:
1 12-oz container fish paste
1/4 tsp ground pepper (white pepper is preferable for appearance, but otherwise black is fine)
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 egg, separated
vegetable oil for pan-frying

Sauce:
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp fermented black bean paste
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 tsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp water

1. Prepare the vegetables (and tofu if you’re using) by washing, cutting, and making any necessary holes or incisions. If you use long beans, you can create a wreath by tying a loose knot on one end and then winding the long leftover end around the loop until you run out of space; you can then stuff the wreath by filling the hole with fish paste.

2. Dust the vegetables with a bit of cornstarch where you plan to stuff them. This will help the fish paste adhere better and not come apart while cooking.

3. Prepare the fish paste by mixing it in a bowl with the ground pepper, chicken bouillon powder, vegetable oil, sesame oil, and egg yolk. Mix in one direction for best results. The paste will separate when the oils are added, but keep mixing to distribute the oil, and the paste will come back together. For a lighter mixture, beat the egg white in a separate bowl until frothy, then mix it in together with the fish paste mixture.Â (If you don’t have time, this step can be skipped, and the whole egg simply mixed into the fish paste at once.)

4. Stuff the vegetables with the fish paste mixture.

5. Heat a frying pan on medium-high heat. Add 1-2 Tbsp of vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, pan-fry the stuffed vegetables in the pan in batches. Avoid overcrowding. Let the stuffed vegetables brown for about 3 minutes on one side, then cover the pan and let them finish cooking. Depending on the vegetables, this may take another 3-5 more minutes. Lift the cover and turn the vegetables over to the other side to finish cooking and browning. Repeat with each batch until all the stuffed vegetables are cooked. Set the vegetables aside.

6. In the same frying pan, heat 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil. Add the chopped garlic. Once the garlic turns golden, add the fermented black bean paste, oyster sauce, sugar, and chicken stock. Mix and let the sauce come to a simmer. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch with cold water until dissolved. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the sauce in the pan. You can serve the stuffed vegetables in the sauce or serve the sauce on the side.

I have to start this post with a little disclaimer: I have no idea how Burmese this dish is. But I do have an aunt who comes from Burma, and my grandma learned this dish from her. In our family, we always just called it “Burmese fish.” I loved it so much growing up that it’d be the first thing my grandma would feed me whenever I visited her.

My favorite part of this dish is the cured onions. This may be why it may seem a little proportionally off when you follow the recipe (I like having it with every bite!). The curing takes the bite out of the onion and draws out some of its natural sweetness. To this we add fresh cilantro, scallions, and some nuoc cham sauce. We usually eat this at room temperature, which makes it a nice, fresh dish for summer.

Burmese Fish
Serves 4 as part of a larger meal

It’s important to use fresh fish, especially when cooking it delicately and pairing it with simple ingredients. You can steam this in a wok or deep skillet or, alternatively, poach it, which is my mom’s current favorite method. She claims poaching helps release any fishy smells as well as infuse the fish with flavor if you choose to add aromatics like onion, scallions, or ginger. (For a quicker method, my mom used to microwave the fish. It’s less moist, but it’s also less work.)

1 2-lb fresh tilapia, scaled, gutted, and cleaned
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/tsp cornstarch
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
2 tsp salt
1-2 Thai bird chilies, sliced (remove seeds and ribs if you prefer it less spicy)
1/4 cup nuoc cham dipping sauce, or more to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1 stalk scallion, cut into 2-inch pieces and thinly sliced lengthwise
a handful cilantro, torn

1. Marinate the fish for an hour or longer in 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and 1/2 tsp cornstarch.

2. Cure the thinly sliced onion by mixing in 2 tsp of kosher salt. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes.

3. Fill a deep skillet, pan, or wok with water — to a depth of 2 inches if steaming, or more (enough to cover the fish) if poaching. If desired, add aromatics like slices of onion, scallions, or ginger to the poaching liquid. Let the water come to a boil, and then add the fish (use a rack and plate if steaming or immerse the fish completely in the water if poaching). Turn the heat down to low, cover, and steam or poach the fish for about 5 minutes. To test for doneness, insert a chopstick into the fish. If it goes all the way through easily, the fish is done. If not, let the fish cook for a couple more minutes. When done, lift the fish carefully out, making sure to let all the liquid drain out if poaching. Set on a plate to cool.

4. When the onion has finished curing, rinse it several times in cold water to get rid of the salt. Squeeze all the moisture out of the onion. Set the onion in a bowl and add the sliced chilies and the nuoc cham dipping sauce.

5. Heat oil in a small pan over medium-high heat. Add minced garlic. Once the garlic turns golden, turn off the stove and take the pan off the heat. Drizzle the fried garlic and fried garlic oil over the fish.

6. Top the fish with the cured onion, chilies, and nuoc cham. Garnish with thinly sliced scallion and cilantro.