Stuffed peppers, eggplant and tofu

Name: Stuffed peppers, eggplant and tofu
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Cantonese
Ingredients: Fish paste 300 g; Capsicum 2; Eggplant 1; Tofu 300 g; Cornflour 2 tbsp; Cooking oil 4 tbsp; Salted black beans 1 tbsp; Garlic 1 tsp; Sugar 1 tsp; Light soy sauce 1 tbsp; Sesame oil a few drops

煎釀三寶

Pan-friedFishWeekendKids like itFor guestsMediumhands-on 35 min · start to finish 45 min

“Fried golden. The children’s favourite.”

Ingredientsserves 4

街市Fish paste· Hong Kong style fish paste; dace paste in Hong Kong300 g

街市Capsicum· seeded, in wedges2

街市Eggplant· about 250 g, in 1.5 cm slices1

街市Tofu· firm tofu, in 8 blocks, patted dry300 g

雜貨舖Cornflour· cornflour, for dusting, plus a teaspoon to thicken the sauce2 tbsp

雜貨舖Cooking oil4 tbsp

雜貨舖Salted black beans· rinsed and crushed, for the sauce1 tbsp

街市Garlic· minced, for the sauce1 tsp

雜貨舖Sugar· for the sauce1 tsp

雜貨舖Light soy sauce· for the sauce1 tbsp

雜貨舖Sesame oil· to finish the saucea few drops

Method

Beat the fish paste with a pinch of salt, sugar and white pepper, stirring in one direction until it is springy; shop-bought paste is usually seasoned already, so taste before you add salt.
Seed the capsicums and cut them into wedges, slice the eggplant 1.5 cm thick and cut the tofu into eight blocks, patting them dry. Dust the face that will take the filling with cornflour; that is what makes the fish stay on.
Press a thin layer of fish paste onto each piece, no thicker than a centimetre; Hong Kong cooks warn that a thick layer never cooks through at the centre.
Heat the oil in a flat pan on medium. Lay the pieces in fish side down and fry two to three minutes until golden, then turn and fry the vegetable side until the eggplant is soft and the capsicum blistered. Work in batches; do not crowd the pan.
Lift out and keep warm. In the same pan fry the black beans and garlic for half a minute, add the sugar, soy and four tablespoons of water, bring to the boil and thicken lightly with a cornflour slurry; finish with a few drops of sesame oil.
Pour the sauce over the three treasures and serve; or do it the street way, with a dish of sweet soy on the side for dipping.

Take care

Contains fish; the black beans, tofu and soy are soy, and the soy sauce contains wheat; the sesame oil is sesame. Keep the fish layer thin and fry the fish side long enough that it is cooked through.

The story

Stuffed three treasures is Hong Kong street food, sold by the piece off a griddle where the customer picks three from the tray, and eggplant, green pepper and tofu became the standard three. It is the Hakka stuffed-tofu idea moved to the Cantonese wet market, where dace paste is sold ready to stuff, and it walked home as a Sunday dish because the paste is a stall purchase and the rest is ten minutes at the stove.

Same technique

Pan-fried dace fish cakes

Egg dumplings

Sweet and sour pork

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.