Stuffed Tau Pok with Rojak Sauce
The rojak sauce for stuffed tau pok is similar to the sauce for Chinese rojak. It’s the same sauce but thinner. And there’re three added ingredients – lime juice, kecap manis, and palm sugar – which give the sauce a more rounded sweetness.
The thinner sauce is a great dip for tau pok stuffed with julienned cucumber and blanched bean sprouts. It’s also delicious with you char kueh, and tart fruits such as green mangoes.
Sauce – makes about 1½ cups
60 g palm sugar (4 tbsp), mince and steamed till dissolved
2 tbsp sugar
60 g tamarind (4 tbsp, Orchid brand), mix with 90 ml hot water, drain and discard seeds
1½ tbsp chilli powder, or to taste
90 g fermented prawn paste (Two Boys brand)
1½ tbsp rojak flower (aka torch ginger bud)
½ cup peanuts (80 g), toast, rub off skin, and chop/pound roughly
juice and finely minced peel of 1 calamansi lime
2 tbsp kecap manis (ABC brand)
8 pieces tau pok (豆卜, beancurd puffs)
100 g bean sprouts, blanch briefly, drain, and dry with paper towels
100 g cucumber, cut matchstick size, and dry with paper towels
2 pairs you zha kueh (Chinese crullers, 油条), separate each pair into two pieces
1. Mix all ingredients for sauce. Taste and adjust if necessary. Set aside.
2. Mix cucumber and bean sprouts. Slit one side of beancurd puff in the middle to make a pocket. Stuff with bean sprouts and cucumber.
3. Place tau pok on a rack if not grilling immediately so that excess water from the bean sprouts and cucumber drains away. Stuffed tau pok should be eaten the day they’re made while the veggies are still crisp.
4. Grill tau pok and dough fritters till crisp. Cut tau pok into 4 pieces, and you zha kueh into 5. Serve immediately with sauce on the side.