Meatball Tofu Stew

This is one stew I love to make when I am hard pressed for time. It’s a no fuss stew anyone can make with minimum ingredients, not to mention children friendly. It has all the protein children need for their growing up years and regular intake of wood fungus  helps keep the “C” for cholesterol in check.

Wood fungus otherwise known as “mok yee”, is widely used among the Chinese to assist a new mother to clear unwanted blood after delivery. Some make it into a drink by boiling it with some red dates (hoong choe) to keep the cholesterol in the blood stream low. I, basically love the texture . . . . . crisp and crunchy to the last bite.

Ingredients
200 gm fresh mok yee
250 gm minced pork
4 firm tofu
1 large Spanish onion
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp light soy sauce
2 Tbsp garlic oil
2 Tbsp wholemeal flour
some crushed pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
2 slices of ginger
1 tsp cornflour or tapioca flour
2 – 3 ladles of chicken or meat stock
filtered water (for soaking the wood fungus if using the dried version)
olive oil

Method

1. Marinade the minced pork with dark and light soy sauce, sugar, pepper, wholemeal flour, garlic oil and cornflour. Keep in the fridge for about 2 hours before shaping them into round meatballs.
2. Fry the firm tofu on a non-stick pan for a few minutes, then cut them into cubes of 4 per piece.
3. Slice the onion into quarters and take off the stem so that the onion falls off in layers when cooked.
4. Wash the fresh wood fungus and remove the hard stem. Tear them into bite-size pieces. If you are using the dried version, soak them in some water to soften, then repeat the same process.
5. Drizzle some olive oil into a non-stick frying pan. Toss in the ginger slices then slowly put in the meatballs. Brown them evenly by turning them with thongs or flip the pan if you’re good at flipping pancakes.
6. When the meatballs are evenly browned, toss in the tofu squares and wood fungus. Stir-fry a while before adding the stock, a dash of dark and light soy sauce, crushed pepper and bring to simmer on low heat for 20 minutes then add in the onions last before cutting the heat. (If you like the sauce to be slightly thick, add 1 tsp cornflour or tapioca flour to 1 Tsp normal temperature water then pour into the simmering dish and stir a bit till  slightly thickened.)