Claypot Braised Tofu with Red Fermented Beancurd

Running out of recipe soon, sigh! What’s next? Hmmm… so I just try the below, it is not something very fantastic but it is still edible. Red fermented beancurd can be used to marinate firm tofu for deep-frying. Just mash the red fermented beancurd, season with sugar, sesame oil and mix well with the tofu.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 2 firm tofu/beancurd (225g)
° small handful small black fungus, soaked and trimmed
° 1 piece red fermented bean curd (2cm x 2cm cube), mashed finely
° 250ml water
° 1 slice ginger (½ cm thick)
° 2 star anise
° 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients into a claypot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serves hot.

Claypot Braised Beancurd Sticks with Black Fungus

This is a simple recipe and easy to whip up. All you need to do is throw all ingredients in a claypot and let it cook. Occasionally, give it one or two stirs, leaving you time to prepare other dishes or read a book or the newspaper. If you prefer the ingredients to be real soft, cook it for a longer period, but remember to top up with more water when it is going to dry up.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 100g dried beancurd sticks, washed and break into small sections
° 2 handful small black fungus, soaked
° 1 slice ginger (1 cm thick)
° 2 star anise
° 625ml water
° ½ teaspoon dark soy sauce
° 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
° 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients into a claypot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the ingredients are tender. Stir occasionally.
2. Serves hot.

Oriental Mix and Match Claypot

Oh, another easy one-pot meal, just put most of the ingredients in a claypot and bring to a boil. Short and sweet! It goes well with yellow noodles and rice. You may even add few different types of mushrooms, fungus to make this a mushroom pot.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g broccoli florets
° 100g can bao-bailing mushroom, sliced
° 50g golden needle mushroom (enoki), based trimmed
° 25g deep-fried beancurd stick, cut into strip
° 25g fresh lily bulb, trimmed and peeled
° 2-3 slices ginger
° 1½ tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce, or to taste
° 350ml water or vegetable stock
° 1 teaspoon Chinese wolfberries, soaked
° pepper to taste
° 1 teaspoon tapioca flour, mixed with 4 tablespoons water

Method
1. Combine the bao-bailing mushroom, golden needle mushroom, beancurd stick, ginger, vegetarian oyster sauce, water or vegetable stock in a claypot and bring to a boil.
2. Add in the broccoli, chinese wolfberries, lily bulb and season to taste with pepper. Stir in the tapioca flour mixture and bring to a boil
3. Garnish with coriander leaves and serves hot.

Braised Chinese Cabbage with Bao-Bailing Mushroom

This is a simple and easy to cook dish. The Bao-Bailing mushroom which had the same colour and texture as the abalone can be easily used to fake as real abalone. I bought this can of Bao-Bailing mushroom from HockHua Tonic. On this can of this Bao-Bailing Mushroom, it says that Bao-Bailing Mushroom (pleurotus eryngii var) is a rare fungus and well-known as prince in fungus family.

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g chinese cabbage (wong bak), base trimmed and halved
° 100g can Bao-Bailing mushroom, sliced
° 5 slices ginger
° ¾ teaspoon olive oil
° 1½ tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° 250ml water or vegetable stock
° 1 teaspoon Chinese wolfberries, soaked in warm water
° pepper to taste (optional)
° few sprig fresh corianders, for garnish

Method
1. Combine the chinese cabbage, bao-bailing mushroom, ginger, olive oil, vegetarian oyster sauce, light soy sauce, water or vegetable stock in a claypot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Stirring occasionally.
2. Add in the chinese wolfberries and season to taste with pepper. If it is too watery, thicken the gravy with a bit of corn flour solution, if desired.
3. Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with coriander leaves and serves hot.

Claypot Tofu

Claypot Tofu - (Deep-Fried Soft Tofu)

Claypot Tofu (Silken Tofu)

I had this dish of claypot Tofu at Mai Zhi Su Vegetarian Eatery after Veggie Bun featured it in her Food Blog - Mai Zhi Su. It was scrumptious and I decided to make this dish myself. I have increased the amount of vegetable used. For a healthy version, you may opt to have silken tofu instead of deep-frying the soft beancurd from the wet market stall. It would be tastier if you are using vegetable stock.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 1 piece (400g±) soft beancurd/tofu, halved and deep-fried
° 100g chinese cabbage (wong bak), shredded
° 2 (50g) shiitake mushrooms, shredded
° 25g carrot, peeled and shredded
° 1 tablespoon dried black fungus shreds, soaked
° 1 slice vegetarian ham or sweet beancurd wafers, shredded
° 1 slice ginger
° 375ml water or vegetable stock
° 1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, or to taste
° 1½ tablespoons tapioca flour, mixed with 3 tablespoon water
° pepper to taste
° 1 tablespoon cooking rice wine (optional)
° dash sesame oil (optional)
° salt (optional)
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Combine the Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, ginger, black fungus and water/vegetable stock into a claypot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
2. Add in the carrot, vegetarian ham/sweet beancurd wafer and tofu. Season to taste with vegetarian oyster sauce, light soy sauce, salt, pepper, sesame oil and cooking rice wine.
3. Stir in the tapioca flour mixture and bring a boil.
4. Garnish with coriander leaves and red chilli. Serves hot.

Claypot Braised Beancurd with Glass Noodles

An easy to cook claypot dish! I omitted the normal sequence of stir frying the ingredients prior to stewing in the claypot, to speed up the process. I love the bean vermicelli to be deep-fried, it soak up the gravy better and easier to digest. However, for a healthier choice, you may soaked the vermicelli and throw in together with the vegetables.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 150g chinese cabbage (wong bak), cut into broad strips
° 6-8 chinese dried mushrooms, soaked
° 1 slice ginger
° 250ml water
° 2 firm tofu/beancurds (225g), cut into 4 sections and deep-fried
° 1 pack/50g bean vermicelli, deep-fried
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Seasoning
° 1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° ½ teaspoon sugar, or to taste
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil
° pepper, to taste

Method
1. Combine the Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, ginger, water, beancurd and seasoning into a claypot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
2. Add in the bean vermicelli and bring to a boil, usually after a while the bean vermicelli will soak up most of the gravy. If it is too watery, thicken the gravy with a bit of cornflour solution, if desired.
3. Garnish with coriander leaves and red chilli. Serves hot.

Claypot Braised Mushroom and Beancurd

With this recipe, you can whip up a home cooked meal in minutes or when you are tired. There is not much works at all, just throw in the entire ingredient into a claypot and leave it to cook. By using claypot or corningware, you can transfer it from the fire to the table and reduce lots of washing to be done later. Again, this is an any one can cook recipe, it won't go wrong at all.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 2 firm tofu/beancurd (225g), cut into 4 or 6 sections
° 250ml water
° 4-8 chinese dried mushrooms, soaked
° 1 slice ginger
° 4 red dates (optional)
° 1 star anise
° 3 cloves
° 2cm cinnamon stick
° ½ teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
° 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil
° 1 teaspoon cooking rice wine (optional)

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients into a claypot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serves hot.