Recently, I’ve been thinking of ways to cook tofu. I’m not exactly a fan of tofu in its purest form – soft and silky with not much of a texture at all. Don’t get me wrong. I do eat steamed tofu or tofu in soup, and absolutely enjoy my agedashi tofu, but if given a choice, I’d much rather eat stuff with contrasting textures than say, chawanmushi.

I’ve been wanting to make these for some time now. Tofu puffs stuffed with soft tofu. These are easy to make, fun to eat and taste fabulous. You’re getting interesting textures of both crispy and soft tofu all in one dish. The kids would like them! All you need? Tau pok, tofu, prawns, corn, and fish paste. You could even omit the half teaspoon of salt as the fish paste is already salted, but one of my aunts always complain food isn’t salty enough, so I didn’t want to take chances.

/Sidetrack. The aunts ended up drowning my precious tofu puffs in stupid chilli sauce. It’s really a pet peeve of mine.. whenever I cook ‘Western’ food – grilled fish, battered fish, roast chicken leg, pork chops, whatever – the first thing they do is reach for that bottle of Lingham or Maggi chilli sauce and then go on to slather the offensive thing on my yummy food! My delicious sauces, wonderful marinade, painstakingly thought out combinations of flavours…. all murdered by chilli sauce. And all you taste is the chilli sauce!! Super hate.

That said, these tofu puffs would go well with a *little* bit of sweet thai chilli sauce. That’s mayo in the pictures – I had two dips – but felt sweet chilli tasted better. These would be a great idea for a party. They make great finger food. Just be sure to *not* let the tofu mixture sit around before stuffing and frying. Tofu gives out lots of water. Best to mash, mix, stuff and fry without stopping in between. The first time I made this, I was cooking a few dishes at a time (as usual) and let the mixture sit for a tad too long. It became more watery than I would have liked. Not what you want.

This is the tau pok (tofu puffs) that I used – mini type:

Cut a slit across and invert, taking care not to tear them. I made these in the airfryer. There’s simply no other way for me, but you could also deep fry these yummy bites. Have fun this weekend and check out all my other airfryer recipes =)

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“Tofu Canapé” is a name invented by Jason and I like it! I was going to name this erm “Steamed Tofu with Minced Pork and Shrimp” yeah so original I know. But of course, unlike a real canapé, you can’t hold this with your fingers although you can probably eat this in one bite (or two)!

I was thinking of what else to do with tofu. I’ve made claypot tofu (look out for my recipe!), Mapo Tofu, cooked them with tau cheo, used them in soups.. I love Agedashi Tofu but I don’t do deep fry. So I thought of 方太 (haha!) and remembered those tofu parcels with meat topping that I watched her make on television, and these Tofu Canapés were created! For those not in Singapore, 方太 is a popular cook in the 1980’s to early 1990’s who had her own cooking show. Every mother in Singapore knows 方太! (“这就是我为你们准备的鲜虾肉圆蒸豆腐，你也可以在家试一试。” Haha!)

For steaming, I used my Zojirushi rice cooker which came with the steaming pan:

Of course you can steam them in a wok or stacked steamer. The water chestnuts lend a nice sweet crunch to the minced pork. I get those pre-peeled ones from Sheng Siong at $2 a packet. Please use fresh ones if you can! Leftovers can be used to brew a waterchestnut drink or my Wintermelon Soup with Pork Balls. I hope you try making the Tofu Canapés.. I had fun cooking these little parcels!

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