Winter Melon And Stuffed Fried Tofu Dish (2010-09-11)
I don't understand why winter melon is called winter when it's at its peak in summer. The summer season is over now (but it's still friggin' hot!), but winter melon is plentiful. I love winter melon and braising it with stuffed tofu pockets is a dish I grew up eating.
Among the plethora of tofu products in Japan, fried tofu pocket is
strangely missing in the market. So I use tofu sheets in my
recipe. If you have access to fried tofu pockets in your city,
use them; they make life easier for this dish.
As usual, ingredients and seasoning amounts are only estimates, even
the stuffing and melon amounts are entirely a personal
preference. Use more meat if you want a more meaty dish and vice
versa. The ratio of ground meat to shrimp is about 1:3, but it's
also good to use all shrimp meat.
I often make braised winter melon with only ginger shreds and eat it
at room temperature or chilled as a refreshing summer side dish.
Perhaps just braising it with unstuffed fried tofu is great too, I'll
have to try that some time.
Ingredients (serves 2-3)
Winter melon, cut into large cubes, 500gm
Ground pork (or chicken) 30gm
Minced shrimp 100gm (shell, devein shrimps, mince finely)
Fried tofu sheets 2
Ginger slices, and some chopped ginger
Steps
- Season ground meat and shrimp with chopped ginger, pepper, 1/4 tsp salt, sesame oil, 1/2 tsp each of cooking wine, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Stir vigorously in one direction till the mixture looks sticky.
- Pour hot water over tofu sheets to remove excess oil, pat very dry.
- Dust tofu sheets with cornstarch, pat down ground meat onto dusted side, stick them together to make a sandwich.
- Cut into 12 cubes, panfry them till golden brown on all sides. Remove.
- Heat some oil, stirfry the ginger slices and then the winter melon. Add enough chicken stock to braise, covered, on medium heat till cooked, about 10 minutes.
- Return tofu to the melon, cook covered for another 5
minutes. Taste and season.
- Thicken sauce with cornstarch/water mixture if desired.
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