Here again a Hakka favourite in Malaysia. This recipe is handed down by Grandma to us. We missed Grandma and her favourite food . It’s a lot of hard work and do take up time.

Now my dad taken over Grandma’s favourite dish. He had showed me how to do it. I am glad to learn from helping him to prepare it. I just don’t like deep frying it as the oil will splatter all over. Got my dad to do frying. It can be like play dough, for kids to help out in preparing. However, it does require gentle hand stuffing the paste inside the firm tofu, dried tofu, eggplant and bitter gourd individually.

“Daikon soup, a light East Asian dish made with simmered daikon radish, features variations like Japanese dashi and Korean beef soups. It aids digestion, boosts immunity with vitamin C, and reduces congestion, while being low in calories and rich in antioxidants and enzymes. Additionally, daikon is used in traditional medicine to relieve chest congestion, acts as a mild diuretic to help kidneys remove excess water and waste, and contains beneficial compounds like sulforaphane that protect cells from damage.”

Make yong tofu and fried one day in advance. Then added to daikon and diced bacon to make soup with bean shoots and rice. Let’s cook!!!

Ingredients

Malaysian Hakka yong tofu

750 g fish paste
600 g pork minced
1 1/2 heaped teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
freshly ground white pepper
10 pieces square firm tofu, cut half diagonally, make a small slit on the cut side, dig out and keep the flesh
10 square pieces tau foo pok (deep fried tofu), cut half diagonally, make a small slit on the cut side, dig out and keep the flesh
3 medium long eggplant, slice at an angle, slice horizontally almost to the edge
3 small bitter gourd, remove seeds and slice at an angle
about 3 cups vegetable oil for deep frying
a small bowl of salted water
oil for frying

Daikon diced bacon soup

1 large daikon, cut into chunk
leftover diced bacon, about 150 g
1 1/2 L chicken stock or water
1 Tsp chicken powder
1 inch of peeled ginger, sliced or lightly crushed
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 Tbs mirin
1 Tsp soy sauce (OPT)
oil
salt
pepper

Side

bean shoots, end tails removed

Method

Do one day in advance or in the morning Malaysian Hakka yong tofu

In a small cup, mix the salt with the water well. Set aside the salted water. Meanwhile, add about 1/3 of the salted water, firm tofu, and tau foo pok flesh, along with a dash of pepper to the minced pork and paste; continue stirring the minced pork and paste to mix well until the salted water is used up. Refrigerate the mixture of minced pork and paste with cling film to harden it a bit for 1-2 hours. Then prepare other items for stuffing.

When time up, bring paste and minced pork to room temperature, use a teaspoon or wash hands use fingers to stuff the tofu (be extra gentle with this one), fried tofu pok and vegetables. The amount of paste to use varies, bitter gourd uses up more filling. Clean up the edges and smooth out the paste with some salted water. (Avoid overstuffing the tofu and vegetables as they may tear/break during frying).

In a large wok, heat up oil over medium heat and fry the stuffed items by batches, starting with the vegetables and ending with the fresh tofu. Lay the stuffing side down to cook the mince/paste, then flip over and around to cook the vegetable/tofu, about 7-9 minutes each side as meat cooks slower than just fish. The tau foo pok is already cooked, this will take the shortest time.

Ensure oil is hot enough for deep frying to avoid oil-clogged results. Drain the fried items on paper towels before transferring them to the serving platter. Set aside if making overnight until cool enough to put in fridge.

The next day

Daikon diced bacon soup

Bring out the cool fried yong tofu. Wash and peel your daikon. Cut into chunk. Heat 1 Tbs oil in a pot over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger, and stir for 1 minute until fragrant. Pour chicken stock and add chicken powder into the pot and bring it to a boil on high heat for 5 minutes. Add daikon chunk. Turn heat to medium-low, cover the pot, and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes. You will know the daikon is ready when it is soft and slightly see-through.

Gently lower the fried yong tofu and diced bacon into the simmering soup. Cook for another 5 minutes just until diced bacon and yong tofu are hot all the way through. Now add mirin, soy sauce; if using, salt and pepper to taste, and cook a further 1-3 minutes. Next, add in bean shoots in the last 1 minute of cooking just to blanch it. Turn off the heat. Ladle into bowls and serve with rice immediate. Enjoy with a glass of Pinot Griggs!!!

Note: You can add carrots along with daikon and diced bacon. You can use roasted chicken, pork ribs, beef instead of diced bacon. You can omit mirin and soy sauce and use Shao Xing Chinese cooking wine and/or use 1/2 Tsp Chinese cooking vinegar. Garnish with spring onion or coriander or scatter some fried shallots. For extra flavours you can add dried squids about 1-2 small pieces or some dried scallops.

For yong tofu, you can add fried pork balls, fresh red chili, cut length wise, removed seeds, and then stuffed with fish paste and minced pork for some red colour food. Instead of rice and bean shoots you can add koay teow and vermicelli. You can omit bean shoots.

https://helenscchin.com/2025/06/27/yong-tofu-daikon-diced-bacon-soup-bean-shoots-and-rice/

For my yong tofu daikon roasted chicken soup recipe:

https://helenscchin.com/2024/06/25/yong-tofu-daikon-roasted-chicken-soup/

For my yong tofu koay teow and vermicelli noodles soup recipe:

https://helenscchin.com/2022/06/16/yong-tofu-koay-teow-and-vermicelli-noodles-soup/

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