Crispy Homemade Seafood Tofu Recipe: A Popular Dish In Chinese Restaurants
These Homemade Crispy Seafood Tofu are perfect crispy fried tofu like you get in restaurants with a light coating made with cornflour. This Seafood Tofu is a very popular dish served in most Chinese restaurants as one of their Signature dishes, also commonly known as Signature Tofu (Jiu Pai Dao Fu 招牌豆腐).
This deep fried tofu dish consists of soft tofu, seafood (usually fish and prawn), carrots and spring onions for colours and extra flavour. The good news is we can easily make this at home too. You will be surprised at how simple it is to make this tofu delicacy at home, that it just might become the next family favourite and home signature dish!
How To Make Crispy Homemade Seafood Tofu, A Step By Step Recipe
Making these Homemade Seafood Tofu basically only need three simple steps. Mix all ingredients with tofu, then steam the tofu mixture and lastly, deep fry to perfection.
So to start, first mash up tofu, chop fish and prawn meat into paste, dice carrots, spring onions and coriander into bite size and mix everything together with egg and cornstarch into a batter. Next, shape the mixed tofu in a steaming tray and steam till just set.
Then cool completely, cut into desired shapes, coat evenly with cornstarch and deep fry till outside is crispy golden and moist on the inside. And we are done!
Important Tips On How To Get Delicious and Extra Crispy Seafood Tofu
Here are some helpful tips for this recipe. To achieve extra crispy and the best texture for this Homemade Seafood Tofu, it is important to:
- Dice the vegetables into small cube bits. If the vegetables are too coarse, it will affect the texture of the seafood tofu.
- Cut the cooled seafood tofu into small equal pieces. It can be any shape you like: square, diamond or long rectangles. Cutting into equal pieces will ensure the seafood tofu to be cooked evenly when deep frying.
- Make sure to set aside the cornstarch coated seafood tofu for 10 minutes before deep frying. This will allow the cornstarch coating to settle and adhere properly to the tofu pieces. This will also prevent excess flour from getting into the oil, keeping the frying oil clean too!
- When deep frying the seafood tofu, bring the heat up to high when just about done. This will result in extra crispy and less greasy texture.
This Delicious Seafood Tofu Is Amazingly Easy To Make, Better Than Restaurants
This Crispy Homemade Seafood Tofu is such a tasty treat and can be so addictive too. This fried tofu dish is very popular with adults and children alike. It has a soft yet crispy texture and has some amazing umami flavour, thanks to the seafood paste, Shaoxing wine and fish sauce. Certainly a great source of protein too, there’s no doubt about it.
This homemade seafood tofu is just perfect, both as a main dish, or as a finger food for snacking on. Great for parties and entertaining too, as it can be prepared ahead of time. Only defrost and deep fry when needed, how convenient is that?
This crispy and golden brown seafood tofu is a simple dish but just amazingly irresistible. Best enjoyed with some sweet chilli sauce, mayonnaise or salad dressing.
So Enjoy!
Can’t Get Enough of Tofu Recipes? Look at Our Other Popular Beancurd Recipes Too!
- Mapo Tofu Recipe 麻婆豆腐食谱
- Sizzling Hot Plate Tofu Recipe 铁板豆腐食谱
- Claypot Bean Curd Recipe 瓦煲豆腐食谱
- Steamed Bean Curd With Hot Shallot Oil Recipe 蒸葱油豆腐
- Stir Fry Diced Vegetables Recipe (Char Liap Liap) 炒粒粒
- Teochew Treasure Beancurd Recipe 潮州豆干
Crispy Homemade Seafood Tofu 香脆自制海鲜豆腐
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Equipment
- 7 inch square baking/steaming tray
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 3 egg tofu, 120g each, cut into halves
- 150 grams fish paste
- 100 grams prawn paste, 5 medium size prawns
- ½ carrot, diced
- 1 – 2 stalks spring onion, diced
- 1 – 2 stalks coriander, chop
- 2 eggs
- 5 tbsp cornstarch, for coating steamed seafood tofu
- 2 cups oil, for deep frying the tofu
Seasonings:
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp shao xing wine
- ½ tsp ground white pepper
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp sesame oil
Have ready all ingredients needed to make seafood tofu.
Also prepare all seasonings needed to season the seafood tofu mixture.
Proceed to cut and chop ingredients needed to make the dish. Chop fish meat and prawns into paste. Dice carrot, spring onion and coriander into small bits. Cut the egg tofu in the middle into 2, remove from plastic and put into a large mixing bowl. Then we are ready to make the batter.
Mix all the cut and chopped ingredients into the mixing bowl with egg tofu. Then add in all the seasonings and eggs. Using a potato masher, press to mash till everything is smoothly mixed together.
Then add in the cornstarch and lastly the sesame oil. Continue to mix till the egg tofu is fine and well mixed with all the other ingredients. Then we are ready to mould the tofu mixture into shape for steaming.
Line a steaming tray with parchment paper. Transfer the mixed seafood tofu mixture evenly onto the lined tray. Smoothen the top with a spoon or spatula so it can be evenly steamed.
Prepare steamer by bringing water to a boil. Steam the seafood tofu over medium high heat for 20 minutes. Test for doneness by using a satay stick or toothpick and it should come out clean. Or, press with the back of a spoon and it should be firm. Then remove the steamed tofu from steamer to cool for at least 1 hour before cutting.
When the steamed tofu has totally cooled, remove the tofu from the steaming tray. Cut into smaller equal pieces. Then evenly coat the seafood tofu with cornflour. Set aside the coated seafood tofu for 10 minutes and we are ready to fry them.
To fry, first heat up sufficient oil in wok. Oil is ready when a bamboo chopstick put in oil has bubbles coming up without smoke appearing. Deep fry the floured tofu in batches using medium heat till crispy and golden brown on both sides. When about done, raise the heat to high to expel oil from the fried tofu. Remove and drain on paper towel. And we are done!
Best served immediately with a dipping of sweet chili or mayonnaise sauce. So Enjoy!
Instructions
Preparing Seafood Tofu Mixture:
Steam Seafood Tofu Mixture:
Fry Seafood Tofu:
Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Notes
- This seafood tofu can be prepared ahead of time and kept frozen in the freezer, so you can serve them anytime. Just deep fry when needed.
- Use parchment paper to line the steaming tray to ensure the steamed tofu can be easily removed from tray before cutting into smaller pieces. Alternatively, you can also use a heat proof cling wrap to line the steaming tray.
- Do not over steam the tofu. Once the surface is set, then it is done. Over steaming will cause roughness to the smooth tofu.
- Cut the seafood tofu into smaller equal sizes, so that they can be fried evenly.
- To ensure oil is ready for deep frying, dip a bamboo chopstick into the oil and bubbles will appear around it. Make sure the oil is not smoking, otherwise it will be too hot for frying.
- Use medium heat to deep fry tofu. Otherwise the tofu will be burnt very easily.
- Always put the fried tofu on a paper towel after frying to soak up any excess oil so it’s not greasy.
