This is definitely one of those dishes that tastes way better than it looks! This was my mom's secret weapon when we were little. If she needs my sister and I eat a lot and a no fuss dinner time, this is what she would make! I will eat 4 bowls of rice with this dish when I was a tiny kid! Even though it's a fairly simple recipe, I do have a few tips to make sure the fish and tofu are both cooked to a perfect flavor and texture!
Ingredients:
- Tilapia fish x 1
- Taiwanese rice wine w/o salt x ½ cup
- Soy sauce x ¾ cup
- Water x ¾ cup
- Rock sugar x 1 tsp
- Ginger x 5 slices
- Garlic x 6 cloves
- Green onions x 2
- Cooking oil x 3 tbsp
Recipe:
1. Clean the fish well. ( Please watch the video on how to properly clean your fish, so you can get rid off the unpleasant fishy taste.)
2. In a wok/pan, add oil. Add garlics into the pan while the oil is still cold. Fry garlics to light golden brown with medium heat. Take them out and set aside.
3. Turn the heat back on to medium high, add in ginger and green onions. Saute for a minute to infuse the oil.
4. Add your fish in and pan fry both sides of the fish. About 1-2 minutes each side.
5. Add in rice wine, water, soy sauce, fried garlics, rock sugar, and bring to boil. Turn the heat to medium.
6. Cut your tofu to squares ( about 2" wide and ½" thick ). Add them into the wok/pan. Bring to boil. Cover and simmer for 15-20 mins with medium low heat.
7. After 15-20 minutes, the fish and tofu will be really soft and hard to transfer to a plate. So I'd recommend to either cook in a pan that you can serve to the table directly, or transfer to a plate really carefully.