Tacos with both crunch and softness go well together. To prevent the crunchy taco shell containing the taco meat and toppings from breaking, the soft taco is cushioned with refried beans and cheese. Children and adults alike will enjoy it! The toppings for this recipe can be changed according to personal choice. We favor toppings like lettuce, sour cream, shredded cheese, hot sauce, and occasionally guacamole. Enjoy!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 5 |
| Yield: | 5 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (14 ounce) package soft tofu
- 7 ounces ground pork
- 6 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules (Optional)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 cups water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 10 dried shrimp
- 1 cup fresh pea vine shoots, trimmed
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules (Optional)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place the tofu into a large bowl, and mash it into a paste with a large spoon. Stir in the pork, cornstarch, egg, 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules, and 1 teaspoon salt until the mixture is very well combined.
- Heat the water and vegetable oil to a boil in a large saucepan, and reduce heat to an active simmer but not a full boil. Using gloved hands, pinch off about 1 tablespoon of the tofu mixture, roll it into a ball between your palms, and slide it carefully into the water so it doesn’t break apart. Repeat with the rest of the tofu mixture. Without stirring the soup, let the tofu balls simmer until they rise to the top, about 30 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, and stir in the dried shrimp, pea vine shoots, 1 teaspoon of chicken bouillon granules, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Serve hot.
- You may substitute some of the water with chicken stock.
- Snow pea shoots have a unique aroma, and they make the soup taste refreshing.
- Good choices for substitutions for snow pea shoots: watercress (highly recommended substitution), cilantro, Taiwan lettuce, spinach.
- To make good tofu balls, the tofu to meat ratio should be 2:1 (If you are meat lover, you can use a 1:1 ratio). The tofu and cornstarch ratio should be 6:1.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 239 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 12 g |
| Cholesterol | 70 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 15 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 786 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 15 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I keep this one in my recipe box. I’ve made it several times over the last couple years. Tasty, Satisfing and digestible. I do like the broth with chicken stock and a little bit of fermented soybean paste/deonjang, to taste. Thanks for the ratio tips at the bottom.
This is a great recipe. Easy to prepare and cook. It makes for a light soup so it’s easy on those who haven’t tried tofu before. I took a suggestion from someone else and added some white pepper and a little ginger. Turned out pretty good. Not a huge favorite of mine, but good. I’ll probably make it again sometime.
Oh yeeeeeehz ni hua my luv this very mucc happy chinese nu yea ^^
So good! It’s a very light soup – it would appeal to people who are afraid to try new things. The dumplings almost taste sweet. The mixture looked a bit wet and I was afraid they would dissolve into the simmering water, but they did not, and seemed to cook up very firm in about 10 minutes. I didn’t have soft tofu, so I used shelf-stable Mori-Nu Firm silken tofu with 6 oz ground pork and 5 TBLs cornstarch. You may want a little more broth.
Very simple, filling, and soothing soup. If you want to add anything to spice it up, I would recommend using something like a ground white pepper to give it a kick. Or even to simmer with a 2 to 3 thin slices of ginger. I agree with the other poster that this is a very easy recipe to tweak by adding things like different veggies and such. (Mmmmm, mushrooms!) Chinese cuisine has flavors that range from subtle to loud. There is not one fixed note. I’m going to make the comment here that miso paste, lemongrass, etc are not Chinese ingredients. Miso is traditionally Japanese, and lemongrass is a staple in Southeast Asian countries. Both would probably make delicious variations as this is a simple soup, but just wanted to put this out there in case anyone reading is searching for authenticity.
Good soup. I had a little bit of trouble with making the balls so most of them ended up as “lumps”. My family and I weren’t sure if you were supposed to eat the dried shrimp or not so we didn’t. Next time I think I’d rather add a few small fresh shrimp so I know what to do with them.
An excellent and easy meal. The only complaint I have is that it is that the flavors are a bit subdued for me. Its not really a complaint though as the soup is supposed to be simple. I would add some miso paste and garlic to the tofu balls as well as put some ginger and lemon grass in the broth. The best thing about this recipe is that you can use it as a base to do whatever you like! Its my new standby.
Wow!! This very good. I had to use spinach because I couldn’t find pea fine shoots, and I didn’t add the shrimp because I’m not a big fan of them, but my family told me next time I should put the shrimp in. I really enjoyed making this, very tasty 🙂
we are foreigners living in China, i made this soup for some local Chinese friends tonight and they loved it! My toddler son also love it – and he is very picky. i left out the shrimp only b/c i forgot to buy them. thanks for the recipe Tao!