Taro Yong Tofu (Tofu stuffed with Taro paste)

I ate something similar to this at Baba Laksa House in the Grace Hotel a few months ago. This is my take on the recipe for a taro yong tofu (stuffed tofu). Normally, restaurants will use a fish paste to stuff the tofu so here's a vegetarian version. I've tried to make a sauce for this from things I had along the way. To start, I washed some rice but kept the rinsing water for cooking the taro later. Steam the rice while you are doing the rest.

• 250g taro
• 1 packet of firm tofu (if you are in Sydney, Nhu Quynh made in Yagoona is a good option)
• 4 stalks of spring onions
• Nob of ginger
• 6-8 rehydrated shitake mushrooms (soaked for 1 hour in boiling water, reserve the water)
• 1 chilli
  
• soy sauce
• salt
  

Grate 3/4 of the ginger and fry with the chopped up spring onions and a pinch of salt. Once cooked, set aside in a medium-sized bowl.

Peel and cube the taro. Fry for a couple of minutes in a medium saucepan with the remaining ginger that has been smashed under a chopping knife. Pour in the water that you rinsed the rice with so that the taro is well covered. If there isn't enough, add a bit more water. Add the shitake mushrooms that have been diced and the finely chopped chilli. Cook until tender, which should take about 10 minutes. Towards the end, save 6-8 tablespoons of the thickened water to form the basis of a sauce later. If there is still any left over liquid, strain the taro and then mix the taro with the fried ginger and spring onions that you reserved earlier. Mash up the taro to form a paste. Add more salt to taste.



Cut the tofu so that it is in two layers. Then cut into squares. Sandwich the tofu in between two layers of tofu. Fry for a couple of minutes on each side until brown. Then take the reserved taro water, add some of the water used to soak the shitake mushrooms to thin it down and add a splash of soya sauce. Poor the sauce on top of the fried stuffed tofu and cook for a minute or two on a high heat. As a variation, you could use two different types of tofu. An egg tofu or silken tofu might be a nice contrast.

Serve the taro yong tofu on steamed rice.