June 3, 2007
Minced Pork With Tofu And Mushrooms
I have this block of silken tofu sitting in my fridge for almost 2 weeks already. I bought it because J was supposed to be away on a short business trip and I thought I would make a tofu dish for myself. The trip was canceled and so the silken tofu was left in the fridge, forlornly looking at me each time I opened the refrigerator door.
Since mom is in town, I pushed the cooking responsibility to her and asked her if she could make something out of minced pork and tofu.
Mom: Give me 3 shitake mushrooms.
Me: Ok. I have green onions too. You want?
Mom: Yes. And I will also add dried sole, dried scallops and salted fish.
Me: Yippee! I like the flavors of all that together.
Without any recipe book for reference and all knowledge of cooking stored in her experienced brain, she started preparing the dish as I stood aside, taking notes.
Ingredients (Serves 2-3):
- 1/4 lb minced pork (seasoned with a dash of salt, pepper, corn starch and mixed with 2 cloves garlic, sliced, and 3 slices of ginger, julienned)
- 3 shitake mushrooms, cut into pieces (I had dried ones, so they need to be pre-soaked in water first)
- 1 tbsp dried sole (pre-fried)
- 1 tbsp dried scallops (pre-fried)
- 1 tbsp salted fish (pre-fried)
- 3 stalks green onions, cut into 1″ diagonals
- 1 block silken tofu, cut into 1″ cubes
- 1/2 bowl water
- cornstarch solution (1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water)
Seasoning:
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce (for color)
- 2 tsp oyster sauce
Cooking Method:
1. Heat up 2 tbsp oil and stir fry minced pork until fragrant.
2. Add shitake mushrooms and light soy sauce and mix well.
3. Add dried sole, dried scallops and salted fish and mix well.
4. Add dark soy sauce and oyster sauce, mix well and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes then add green onions and mix well.
5. Add silken tofu and allow to cook for about 30 secs, then add 1/2 bowl water, cover saucepan and allow to boil. (No need to mix tofu with rest of the ingredients as you will break up the tofu.) Continue to boil for about 4-5 minutes to allow the tofu to absorb the gravy, otherwise the tofu will taste plain. (You may want to do a taste test here to see if you need more light soy sauce to increase the saltiness or more water to dilute the saltiness.)
6. Drizzle cornstarch solution over gravy to thicken the gravy. Gently shake the saucepan to allow the cornstarch solution to be mixed with the gravy.
Thanks to Tigerfish’s green onions and ginger condiment post, I realized that green onions (also known as scallion, a variety of onion) is actually an herb!! I use green onions quite a bit, so this is my contribution to this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Kalyn’s Kitchen. Green onions grow to reach about 20 inches in height and grow well in warm climates. Both the green and white portions of green onions can be eaten and the bulb portion is the part that is most often used as a drug. Green onions has traditionally been used only in Asian folk medicine and its usage for its medicinal properties is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Bite This!
More recipes:
Tofu - Who’s For Healthy Living?
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June 3rd, 2007 at 9:03 am
How fun having your mom create a recipe while you take notes. I really like tofu, but I haven’t cooked with it much. That was one of my resolutions which I haven’t really kept. This sounds like it would be delicious.
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:08 am
The best part is to eat it at the end - it’s always nice when someone else does the cooking :D
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Your mom sounds like my mom!!! Isn’t it the best to learn cooking from them?
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Yummy, looks delicious!! Lucky you, having your mom there to help you cook.
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Lucky mom is here. You can relax a little until the baby arrives.
June 4th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Wah! Got scallop wan ah? So palatial!
June 5th, 2007 at 12:34 am
I love how mums can just put meals together without even breaking a sweat!
June 5th, 2007 at 9:21 am
I went for a chinese buffet this lunch time and had something similar to this. The only thing is that the tofu was very bland though. Maybe your mum adding dried sole, dried scallop and salted fish makes a difference. :D
June 5th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Steamy Kitchen:
Mom’s make cooking easier than they look on TV.
Ming, DF:
Yup.. I can be the Princess (hehe) for the moment. Then when the baby arrives, I will be slave to the baby.
PP:
Sole, scallop, salted fish - the culinary trinity?
W&S:
Yeah… I need to pick her brain while she’s here. Too bad I never bothered with her cooking when we lived together.
Anh:
Mom says to let the tofu boil in the gravy for a while to absorb the flavors of the dried sole, dried scallop and salted fish. Yep.. those have pretty strong flavors!
June 5th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
But you cook like this all the time, I don’t think you really needed Mama Simcooks to teach you. I think you just like having mama around. ;)
June 10th, 2007 at 1:54 am
This is exactly what I’m looking for. I’m dying for some tofu recipe. It looks so yummilicious. I gotta try it out soon.
September 13th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Sounds delicious. My mom is not as experienced a cook as yours…mine always used those little dried shrimp…which I’m allergic to! This is a great recipe to try since I can avoid the shellfish. One question: You said the dried fish/scallops/sole was pre-fried. Does that mean you bought it fried - or was it fried in the pan before adding to the recipe? Are these sold as dried fillets or shredded? Thanks.
(and congrats on the new baby!)
September 20th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Hi Rose, Sorry for the super late reply :O *Blame the baby* :p
I pan fried the salted fish, dried sole, and scallops separately with a good amount of oil and kept them in individual containers in the freezer for use when I needed them. This is for convenience only. I use these pre-fried scallops and dried sole in soups too, and the pre-fried salted fish in fried rice. Hope this helps.