Hakka Style Chinese Stuffed Tofu With Minced Pork and Shrimp

Pan-fried crispy tofu stuffed with an irresistible marinated pork and shrimp blend and braised to perfection, this Hakka-style Chinese stuffed tofu recipe will soon become a family favorite in your household!

What is Hakka Style Stuffed Tofu?

In homage to my mother’s side of the family, today I would like to introduce to you this popular Hakka dish called Hakka stuffed tofu also known as Chinese fried stuffed tofu or 釀 豆腐 (yong tau fu/yong tau foo) in Cantonese.

Chinese stuffed fried tofu is a popular southern Chinese dish consisting of tofu that is filled with a delicious meat filling composed of ground pork, shrimp, fish paste, or a combination of these depending on the yong tau fu recipe.

The Chinese-style stuffed tofu is then braised in a savory rich gravy sauce packed full of umami flavor. Each bite that you take from the Chinese pork stuffed tofu is filled with a variety of different textures and flavors. The outside of the tofu is crispy while the inside is nice and soft, the meat filling is savory and delectable, and the sauce is thick and creamy.

This Chinese tofu pork recipe is super easy and straightforward to make but will leave your family surprised at your culinary skills in the kitchen!

Here’s what you’ll need for this Chinese stuffed tofu with minced pork recipe:

Chinese Stuffed Tofu Ingredients

Tofu Ingredients:

• 1 Medium-firm or firm tofu package 700g (Asian brand)
• 3-4 Tbsp of cooking oil (for pan-frying the tofu)

Filling Ingredients:

• Ground pork 90g
• Shrimp 90g approximately 6-7 shrimps
• 1 green onion stalk
• 2 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 3-4 cloves of minced garlic
• 2 slices of ginger

Marinade:

• Light soy sauce 1 tsp
• Oyster sauce 1 tsp
• White sugar ½ tsp
• White pepper ½ tsp
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• 1 tsp of Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine)
• Cornstarch 1 tsp
• Cooking oil 1 tsp

Sauce:

• Oyster sauce 1 Tbsp
• Light soy sauce 1/2 Tbsp
• White sugar 1/2 Tbsp
• Water ½ cup
• ½ cup of mushroom water used to soak the mushrooms

Cornstarch slurry:

• 1 Tbsp of cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp of water

Ingredient Notes

Tofu: Make sure that you’re using either medium-firm tofu or firm tofu for this recipe. Silken tofu or soft tofu should not be used for this recipe as they are too fragile to handle when stuffing it with the filling and you’ll end up breaking the tofu. You’ll also need to pan-fry the tofu, which silken tofu is not a good candidate for. Also, it is highly recommended that you use an Asian brand of tofu which is readily available at all Asian supermarkets.

Dried shiitake mushrooms: I recommend using dried shiitake mushrooms instead of fresh shiitake mushrooms. Not only will you have a stronger mushroom flavor from the dried shiitake mushrooms but you can also use the water that was used to soak the mushrooms as a broth for the sauce, further enhancing the taste. The dried shiitake mushrooms should be soaked twice in water after washing the mushrooms. First soak should be for at least 1-2 hours before draining the water and soaking it again for at least another hour. Don’t use the water from soaking the dried mushrooms the first time as there will be a lot of dirt and sediment in the water.

How to Make Hakka-Style Chinese Stuffed Tofu

Preparing the shiitake mushrooms:

1. Rinse and wash your dried shiitake mushrooms well.
2. Then add them to a bowl and fill it with water to soak the mushrooms. About 2 cups of water is sufficient to soak the mushrooms (500 ml).
3. Let the mushrooms soak in the water for about 1-2 hours.
4. After 1-2 hours of soaking the mushrooms, discard the water and soak the mushrooms in water again. I recommend soaking the mushrooms overnight to speed up the process so that you can just use them the very next day.
5. While the mushroom is being rehydrated, you can move onto the next step.

Preparing the tofu:

1. Open a package of tofu and rinse the tofu with water and drain out the water.
2. Now let the tofu drain. You can place some paper towels underneath and on top of the tofu or place the tofu in a straining basket and then place a flat plate on top of it followed by placing something heavy on top of the plate to press down onto the tofu. Let the tofu drain for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour. The more dry the tofu is, the less likely it is to have oil splatter when you fry the tofu.

3. Now while the tofu is draining, prepare the filling.

Preparing the filling:

1. Start by removing the shells from the shrimp and deveining the shrimp.
2. Then mince the shrimp well. An easy way to do this is to use the side of a Chinese cleaver and slap down onto a piece of shrimp while dragging the cleaver in a downward motion. After you are done doing this with all of the shrimp, you can just finely chop the shrimp until it turns into a paste-like texture and set it aside.

3. Now take the shiitake mushrooms that were being soaked in water (ideally soaked for at least 1-2 hours before use) and squeeze out all of the water in the mushrooms into the same bowl but DO NOT DISGARD THE WATER USED TO SOAK THE MUSHROOMS!!! This will be used as a broth to enhance the sauce later on.
4. Now finely dice the mushrooms and then set them aside

5. Now in a large bowl add in your minced shrimp, ground pork, diced shiitake mushrooms, plus all of the marinade except the cornstarch and cooking oil. Mix everything well together and then add in your cornstarch plus cooking oil to the filling. Give it a good mix using a clockwise or counter-clockwise motion with either some chopsticks, your hand, or a spoon.

6. Now scoop up the filling with your hand and then slap it back down into the bowl. Repeat this several times until the filling becomes very sticky-like. This step will help the filling bind and stick together better, producing a much better bouncy texture when you bite into it rather than the filling disintegrating as soon as you bite into it.

7. Once done, cover the filling with some plastic wrap so that it doesn’t get dry, and then place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using.

Preparing other ingredients:

1. While waiting for your tofu to drain and the filling to marinate, prepare your garlic, ginger, and green onions.
2. Mince the garlic and set it aside.
3. Remove the skin from the ginger and slice 2 large slices of ginger and set it aside.
4. Now chop the green onions into small pieces about 1/4 inch in width and separate the white and green parts and set it aside.

Preparing the sauce:

1. In a bowl, add in your oyster sauce, light soy sauce, white sugar, water, plus 1/2 a cup of the water used to soak the shiitake mushrooms.
2. Mix everything well together and set it aside.

Preparing the tofu continued:

1. Once the tofu has finished draining, pat it dry with some paper towels.
2. Now cut the tofu into pieces ideally with at least 2 1/2 inches in height so that you have some space to put the filling in. My package already pre-cut the tofu into 4 large pieces and I cut them in half to get 8 pieces but this may be different for you depending on what brand you use.

3. Once the tofu has been cut into pieces, scoop out the center of the tofu making sure to leave some space on the edges. Scoop out the tofu between 1/3 to 1/2 of the height of the tofu. The tofu that you scooped out can be used in a soup or as part of a filling for another recipe such as steamed eggs so if you don’t like wasting food then you can save it for later.

4. Now apply some cornstarch into the hole that you created in the tofu. You can just sprinkle a little tiny bit into the hole and then press down with your fingers to make it stick to the tofu.

5. Next, add your filling to the hole that you just created until the filling is slightly sticking out of the tofu. I recommend not to overfill the tofu too much otherwise the filling may fall out or the tofu may break.

6. Now sprinkle a little bit of cornstarch on the top of the tofu and lightly pat it down with your fingers so that it sticks to the filling. Once done, set the tofu aside.

Cooking everything:

1. Now heat up a wok on medium heat. Once you start to see smoke coming out of the wok, add in your cooking oil and swirl it around the wok.
2. Once the oil is hot enough, add your tofu to the wok with the meat filling facing down towards the wok. This is to ensure that the meat filling gets fully cooked.

3. Pan-fry the meat filling side until it is golden brown and then flip it over and pan-fry the opposite side.

4. If you want the tofu to be extra crispy then also pan-fry all of the sides of the tofu as well.

5. Once done pan-frying the pan-fried stuffed tofu, remove it from the wok and empty out all of the oil.

6. Now heat up the wok again on medium-low heat, and add back in about 1 Tbsp of the oil used to pan-fry the tofu.
7. Once the oil is hot, add your minced garlic, ginger, and the white part of the green onions into the wok.

8. Stir-fry everything for about 30 seconds.
9. Now add in the sauce that you prepared earlier.

10. Turn up the heat to medium-high now and bring the sauce to a boil while occasionally mixing it.
11. Once the sauce comes to a boil, make a cornstarch slurry by combining 1 Tbsp of cornstarch with 1 Tbsp of water. Now while mixing the sauce in the wok, slowly add in the cornstarch slurry to the sauce.

12. Once the sauce has thickened up, add back in the pan-fried tofu from earlier.
13. Mix everything well together and let it braise for about 1 minute.

14. Now add the green onions that you cut earlier back into the wok and mix everything well together.

15. Finally, turn off the heat, remove the braised stuffed tofu from the wok along with the sauce, and serve while hot.

Common Mistakes Beginners Make

• Oil splashes everywhere as soon as you put the tofu into the wok caused by excess water in the tofu. To avoid this, make sure to fully dry the tofu before frying it.
• The tofu falls apart due to using the wrong type of tofu for making this dish. Soft and silken tofu should not be used for this dish as it’s too fragile. Instead, use medium-firm or firm tofu.
• The filling falls right out when cooking the tofu. This can be caused by a few reasons:
  1. The hole carved for the tofu is not deep enough.
  2. You put way too much filling on top of the tofu
  3. You didn’t add some cornstarch to the tofu hole that helps the filling stick to the tofu.

Storage Tips

The dish can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Side Dishes:

Normally this dish is eaten with cooked white rice and is not meant to be eaten alone. You may also want to pair this dish with some other side dishes such as bok choy stir fry or Chinese green beans with minced pork.

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.S)

Can I Use Silken Tofu for This Recipe?

No! It’s too soft and will break apart when filling it and frying it.

Can I Use Tofu Purchased From a Non-Asian Supermarket?

It’s not recommended unless the tofu brand is Chinese and is also found in other Asian supermarkets. Some of these non-Asian brands I find their tofu taste kind of off and not authentic.

Can I Use Pre-fried Tofu in Place of the Regular Tofu?

Yes, this will work, however, you will still need to pan-fry the tofu and meat filling to ensure everything is fully cooked.

How Do I Make This Dish Vegetarian?

Instead of using ground pork and shrimp, you can substitute it with some diced carrots, diced shiitake mushrooms, the carved out tofu, and some diced wood ear mushrooms. In addition, you can also use a vegetarian meat substitute as well such as Chinese vegetarian duck or pork. For the sauce, substitute the oyster sauce with some vegetarian oyster sauce as well.

Can I Use Olive Oil to Fry the Tofu?

It’s not recommended. Olive oil has a low smoke point and is not recommended for use to fry foods. Instead, I would choose peanut oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, or sunflower oil.

I Don’t Have Ground Pork at Home, Can I Use Another Meat Filling?

You can substitute the ground pork with fish paste or use a blend of the two if you don’t have enough ground pork.

Other Recipes You’ll Love

• Chinese Eggplant With Ground Pork
• Bok Choy Stir Fry
• Chinese Green Beans With Minced Pork