Street Food - Yong Tau Foo - Ivan Teh

Street Food - Yong Tau Foo

Also Known As:
Yong Tau Foo, Yong Tao Foo, Yong Tau Fu, Yong Tau Hu, Niang Dou Fu

Average Price Per Serving:
SGD $3 - $8

Description:
Yong Tau Foo is a dish of Hakka origin, and basically means 'Stuffed Tofu'. In Singapore, it refers to a stall that sells various stuffed food items, generally stuffed tofu, stuffed vegetables, stuffed meat balls / fish balls and stuffed fried fritters.

There are 2 main variations on the stuffing for Yong Tau Foo.

The traditional Chinese Yong Tau Foo stuffing is made with minced pork, spanish mackerel fish (Batang) paste (Surimi), corn flour and salt.

The halal Malay Yong Tau Foo stuffing however, is made with spanish mackerel fish (Batang) paste (Surimi), corn flour and salt.

Some hawkers also include spring onions and garlic.

Common ingredients to be stuffed or topped for Yong Tau Foo include brinjal / aubergine / egg plant, steamed silken tofu, fried silken tofu, steamed chinese firm dry tofu, fried chinese firm dry tofu, steamed tofu puffs, fried tofu puffs, red chili, green chili, bitter gourd, shiitake mushrooms, okra (Lady's Fingers) and chinese fried dough fritters (You Tiao / You Char Kway).

Besides stuffed / topped ingredients, Yong Tau Foo stalls typically also have non-stuffed ingredients, including lettuce, water spinach leaves (Kang Kong), fish cakes, chicken sausage (Hot Dog), fish patty, fish balls, pork meat balls / chicken meat balls, fried bean skin sheets, seaweed, bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, prawn balls, broccoli, pork dumplings / chicken dumplings, pork rolls / chicken rolls, fish rolls, tofu rolls, cloud ear fungus / black fungus, fried fritters, eggs, cuttlefish and crabstick.

Yong Tau Foo is typically served with plain white rice, yellow egg noodles or thin rice vermicelli noodles (Bee Hoon). There are 3 Singaporean styles that Yong Tau Foo could be served in; Dry, Soup or Laksa.

The Dry style of Yong Tau Foo involves frying most of the items, and serving it in 2 different sauces. A spicy chili paste (Sambal) and a sweet pink sauce made from soy beans, light soy sauce, corn flour, oyster sauce or seafood hoisin sauce. A small side bowl of soup is served together.

The Soup style of Yong Tau Foo involves serving the items in a soup / broth, made from water, salt, ginger, chicken stock, soy beans, onions, anchovy fish (Ikan Bilis) / spanish mackerel fish (Batang) bones, dried shrimp and dried scallops.

Finally, Yong Tau Foo could be in a served spicy coconut curry soup (Laksa), made with garlic, ginger, chili, candlenuts, dried prawns, shrimp paste (Belacan), lemongrass, vietnamese coriander / laksa leaf and shallots.

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Yong Tau Foo happens to be one of my personal favourite dishes, and I wish to eat it nearly everyday!

These are the top 3 stalls which I feel serve the best Yong Tau Foo in Singapore.

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Rong Xing Cooked Food
@ 6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza #02-04
Opening Hours: 7am - 2.30pm Closed Thu & Sun

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Hup Chong Hakka Yong Dou Foo
@ 116 Toa Payoh Lorong 2 #01-140
Opening Hours: 6.30am - 3pm, 5pm - 8.30pm Closed Tue

@ 206 Toa Payoh North #01-1197
Opening Hours: 6.30am - 3pm, 5pm - 8.30pm Closed Tue