Steamed Minced Prawns and Tofu

Tofu is my favourite fridge standby ingredients. In Britain, the best tofu we could get is this silk tofu which can be found at the chilled cabinet in Asian supermarkets. Because of its silky soft texture, steaming is the best way to retain its shape. Y's father has a killer recipe for steamed tofu, using garlic, dried prawns and dried scallops. He had taught me how to make it, but mine never turned out to be as good as his. I guess it takes lots of 'trial and error' and I will persist. But until I have cracked it, it would not do him justice to post it here. =p So in the interim, here is a simple steamed tofu, with different ingredients, which I hope you will enjoy...

Ingredients

1. 300g silk tofu/silken tofu/soft tofu (I got it from See Woo, 'Unicurd' brand silken tofu)
2. 100g raw prawns
3. 1/4 teaspoon salt
4. 1/2 teaspoon cornflour, plus extra as glue for the minced prawn
5. a pinch of white pepper
6. 2 tablespoons oil
7. 2 tabelspoons soy sauce
8. a few sprigs of coriander (or spring onion), as garnish

Method

• Shell and devein the raw prawns. Take out a large knife (a Chinese cleaver is ideal), use the sides of the blade to mash the prawns on the chopping board. If the prawns are large, cut it to pieces first.
• Now you have the prawn pieces all mushed up. Gather the mushed prawn pieces together and use the knife to chop the mushed prawns for about 1 minute.
• Then, put the minced prawns into a large bowl and add white pepper, cornflour and salt and use a pair of chopsticks to stir thoroughly. It is important to stir in only one direction. As you stir, you will notice the mince is becoming sticky.
• Then comes the fun part. Use one of your hands to hold the bowl while the other hand grab all the mince away from the bowl. Then release your fingers to throw the mince back to the bowl. Grab and throw for 15 times. This helps to bring out the elasticity of the mince. But don't 'grab and throw' for too many times, otherwise the mince will become too elastic, making it rubbery.
• Put the minced prawns into the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour.
• Depending on how you want to serve the tofu, you may want to cut up the tofu into thick slices. But silken tofu is very fragile and you are very likely to end up with broken tofu pieces, so I just serve it whole.
• Sprinkle some cornflour on the tofu and gently put the prawn mince on top. Cornflour will glue the minced prawns to the tofu. Use a spoon to level the mince so that it cooks evenly.
• Steam for 8-12 minutes (depending on the thickness of your prawn mince). In the meantime, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a small pan until smoking.
• When the tofu is ready, pour the smoking hot oil on the tofu. Add soy sauce and garnish with coriander/spring onion. Serve.