Salted Egg Tofu (咸蛋豆腐)

My inspiration for making this dish comes from my craving on Salted Egg Prawns which I have not eaten for quite sometime. And since recently I am trying to cook quick and simple homecooked dish within a S$20.00 budget for "2 Dishes and 1 Soup". I decided to try out this “Salted Egg Tofu” which surprisingly turns out well received.

Salted duck eggs are normally boiled or steamed before being peeled and eaten as a condiment to porridge or cooked with other foods as flavouring. The orange red yolk is rich, fragrant and less salty compare to the whites portion.

For a while our sense of taste seems to play a trick on us by making us thought that this tofu dish is actually the "salted egg prawn" due to the familiar taste that they both shared.

Ingredients: (serves 2)

1 Tube of Egg Tofu
10 - 15 Curry Leaves

Egg Yolk Coating:
1 Cooked Salted Egg Yolk, mashed
1 Small Red Onion, cut into wedges
10g of Unsalted Butter
1 Teaspoon of Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Of Cornflour
1 - 2 Sprig Extra Curry Leave

Tip:

~ Remove the outer soil from the salted egg, carefully scrub and rinse well. Cooked it in a small saucespan half filled with water on medium low heat for about 10 minutes. Remove, shelled and take out the salted egg yolk. OR

~ Alternatively, break the uncooked salted egg and remove the yolk and steamed it for 8 minutes before mashing.

Although this dish might be quite fattening due to the ingredients used but I guess having it once in a while should be a good enough to satisfy those craving from the fried salted egg with butter taste. What's more to consider when you only need roughly S$3.00 to prepare this.

Method:

1. Slice tofu equally into 8 pieces of the same thickness.

2. Gently coat it with some cornflour and shake off the excess.

3. Pan-fry the tofu with 1 tablespoon of oil till golden brown and crisp on both side, remove and drain well.

4. Use the remaining oil from the pan, saute the 10 - 15 curry leaves using low heat till crispy and drain well. (you have to do this fast as the leaves tends to get burnt very quickly)

5. With the same frying pan, add in butter and olive oil and simmer on low heat till butter melt before adding in the onion and sprigs of curry leaves. (if you prefer something spicy, you could add in a few slices of cut chili at this stage)

6. Continue to saute the mixture on low heat till the onion begin to soften, stir in the mashed salted egg yolk and give it a quick stir till the well combined.

7. Slowly toss in the tofu, swirl the pan to coat tofu evenly with the salted egg sauce.

8. Discard the sprigs of curry leaves and serve the golden tofu with crispy curry leaves as garnish.