Yong Tau Foo is a famous dish that must be included in any Hakka banquet.
It was on the list of the first "Chinese Cuisine" event to be released to the world in 2018 and a large-scale exchange meeting on classic dishes and famous banquets in provincial and regional areas across the country.
It is said that tofu comes from "Dofu".
According to legend, tofu was created by Liu An, King of Hanhuai, and Liu An is also regarded as the ancestor of tofu. Some people also believe that tofu was created by working people. There is such a story among the people that "the wife teases the husband", and the original tofu was called "the wife teases the husband".
Legend has it that in ancient times, people would only grind beans into soy milk and drink it. There is a family of three. The young couple are loving and harmonious, and they serve their old mother together. However, this mother-in-law lives a very frugal life and does not allow her daughter-in-law to make soy milk easily. One day, the daughter-in-law took advantage of her mother-in-law to go out to visit relatives and started grinding the soy milk. After grinding the soy milk, she was about to take a bowl and scoop it out, when there were footsteps outside the door, thinking that her mother-in-law had suddenly returned. At this time, she was afraid that her mother-in-law would be angry when she saw it, so she hurriedly poured the soy milk into the jar next to the stove and closed the lid.
She quickly walked out of the door and saw that her husband had returned from working in the fields, so she took her husband back to the house to drink soy milk together. The husband opened the lid of the jar and saw that the soy milk had turned into a snow-white solid. "Don't tease me, where is the soy milk?"
It turned out that the jar had been soaked in sauerkraut, and there was some salt soup in it, that is, Now it is called brine, so the soy milk becomes solid after being poured in. When the couple tasted it, they felt it was extremely fresh and tender, and they started making it often after that. At first, this new food had no name. After muttering for some days, the two named it "Dofu". Later, because it was a soy food, it was called "tofu" over time.
As for Yong Tau Fu, it is said that it is related to the dumplings in the north: the Hakka ancestors originally lived in the Central Plains area, where wheat was produced and flour was often used to make dumplings. Later, due to wars and other reasons, the Hakka ancestors migrated to the south to live. The Lingnan area produced more rice, less wheat, and less flour. Yong Tofu became a substitute for dumplings. The ancestors of the Hakka people thought of mincing pork into fillings, using tofu instead of flour, and stuffing the fillings into the tofu, just like dumplings. Because of its delicious taste, it has become a famous Hakka dish and is now a home-cooked dish on the Hakka table.
There is also a folk legend:
A long time ago, there were two good brothers who had a conflict when ordering food. One wanted to eat pork and the other wanted to eat tofu. Later, The clever restaurant owner came up with a way to get the best of both worlds and make Yong Tau Foo.
The freshly served Hakka Yong Tau Foo is soft, tough, tender, smooth, fresh and fragrant. It is light golden yellow, the tofu is tender and smooth, the meat filling is delicious, and the soup is Rich and mellow, mouth-watering.
[There are many ways to prepare delicious food. Here are the most common preparation methods]
Ingredients
400 grams of tofu, 200 grams of pork grams, 6 mushrooms, 1 rapeseed, 1 tsp salt, 1 piece of ginger, 15 ml light soy sauce, 10 g oyster sauce, 1 tbsp vegetable oil.
Steps
1. Cut the tofu into triangular pieces (you can also cut into cubes), add the minced mushrooms to the minced meat, and add a small amount of light soy sauce and salt to taste.
2. Use a small spoon to dig a hole in the middle and embed the seasoned minced meat into it.
3. Apply a small amount of oil to the pan, put the tofu cubes into the pan and fry until the other sides are browned, then turn it over and fry the side with the meat filling.
4. While frying the tofu, make green cauliflower for decoration, and use scissors to cut off the roots of the greens.
5. Blanch the cauliflower in boiling salt water until cooked.
6. After the tofu is fried, take it out and set aside. Put the sauce into the pot and boil it, then pour it on the fried tofu.
Tofu contains magnesium chloride and calcium sulfate, which together with the oxalic acid contained in spinach, can produce magnesium oxalate and calcium oxalate. These two kinds of white precipitates cannot be absorbed by the human body, which not only affects the body's absorption of calcium, but also makes people prone to stone disease.
Pork should not be eaten with plums, licorice, crucian carp, shrimp, pigeon meat, snails, almonds, donkey meat, mutton liver, coriander, soft-shell turtle, water chestnut, buckwheat, quail meat, beef; it is not suitable after eating pork. Drink lots of tea.
Tofu is known as "plant meat" and is rich in nutrients such as iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sugar, vegetable oil, and protein. It is sweet and cool in nature and taste, and enters the spleen, stomach, and large intestine meridian, and has It has the functions of nourishing the spleen and replenishing qi, tonifying the spleen and removing dampness, clearing away heat and detoxifying. It can be used to treat physical weakness after illness, shortness of breath, lack of food, insufficient milk secretion, kidney deficiency, difficulty in urination or short and frequent urination, stranguria, heat accumulation in the spleen and stomach, acne, and dry mouth. It is very effective for dry throat, cough due to lung heat, abdominal distension and dysentery, etc.
The copper in pork has an important impact on the development and function of the blood, central nervous system, immune system, kidneys and other internal organs; the fat in pork maintains body temperature and protects internal organs, provides essential fatty acids, and promotes the development of these fats. The absorption of soluble vitamins increases the feeling of fullness; the protein in pork provides heme (organic iron) and cysteine ??that promotes iron absorption, which can improve iron deficiency anemia.
The wheat alcohol contained in shiitake mushrooms can be converted into vitamin D, promote the absorption of calcium in the body, and enhance the body's ability to resist disease; it contains glandularin, choline, tyrosine, oxidase and Certain nucleic acid substances can lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood lipids, and can prevent arteriosclerosis, liver cirrhosis and other diseases; polysaccharides can increase the activity of helper T cells and enhance the body's humoral immune function; they also contain a variety of Vitamins and minerals play a great role in promoting human metabolism and improving the body's adaptability.
After the invention of Yong Tau Fu, it has become an iconic food in Hakka cuisine and a favorite of Hakkas. In ancient times, when the Hakka people left their hometown, they especially cherished hometown dishes such as Yong Tau Fu. Yong Tau Fu appeared in Huaxian County because of the homesickness of people who had left a foreign land. The reason why every time I eat, I have to "make another bowl of stewed tofu and follow the cooking method at home" is because I miss my hometown especially after fleeing the country. The strong hometown feelings make Yongdoufu appear in Huaxian by accident.
Now, Yong Tau Foo has become the symbol and pride of Hakka people’s diet.