Trung cut kho dau hu belongs on a family dinner table: nutty quail eggs, fried tofu that soaks up all the braising liquid and onion softened to sweetness. Fresh coconut water keeps the pot gently sweet without much seasoning.
The hardest part is peeling thirty quail eggs without crushing them. Dropping them into a bowl of cold water for 5 to 10 minutes straight after boiling makes the shells slide off. The tofu should be fried golden on both sides before it goes in, since underfried pieces collapse in the pot.
This batch weighs about 2.6kg, at roughly 77 calories per 100g.
Method
Peel 4 shallots and 2 garlic cloves, and mince 2 of the shallots with the 2 garlic cloves. Peel the onion and cut it into wedges. Trim the roots from the spring onion whites, rinse them and cut them into lengths. Rinse the bird's eye chilies and remove the stems.
Set a pan with 250ml cooking oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, lower the heat, add the 5 pieces of tofu, cut as you like, and fry for 7 to 10 minutes until evenly golden on both sides, then lift them out to drain.
Bring 500ml water to a boil, add 30 quail eggs and boil them for 15 to 20 minutes, then move them to a bowl of cold water for 5 to 10 minutes and peel them.
Mix the sauce: stir together 3 tablespoons kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 2 tablespoons seasoning powder, 4 tablespoons fish sauce and 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper.
Set a pot with 10ml cooking oil over medium heat, fry the minced shallot and garlic until fragrant, then add the sauce and cook it for 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the quail eggs, the tofu, the onion wedges, 3 bird's eye chilies and 400ml coconut water, and braise for 15 to 20 minutes.
Once everything is tender, adjust the seasoning, add the 2 lengths of spring onion white and the 2 remaining shallots, then turn off the heat.
Tips
Moving the eggs into cold water for 5 to 10 minutes straight after boiling makes them quick to peel and keeps them whole.
The whole shallots and the spring onion whites go in at the end so they keep their fragrance and sweetness.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so stir it fully into the bowl of sauce before it goes into the pot.
For a deeper color, add a little caramel sauce or dark soy sauce, since kOBE Monk Fruit Blend does not color the pot.
Drain the fried tofu before it goes in, since pieces still soaked in oil make the whole pot greasy.
A bare simmer and gentle stirring keeps the eggs smooth and the tofu whole.
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The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.