Sometimes, the best inspiration comes when you least expect it.
We were scrolling through Youtube one evening, when a video of tauhu begedil came up!
It whetted our appetite so much that we decided to cook this one weekend.
A variation of begedil daging
A popular dish in Malaysia and Indonesia, tauhu begedil is a variation of Begedil Daging – potato patties filled with minced meat.
Recall that we cooked begedil daging earlier this year, as a component of our Soto Ayam dish. Find both recipes below:
Mashed potatoes in fried tofu
Tauhu begedil is basically fried tofu puffs stuffed with mashed potatoes, minced beef and spices. It’s so simple but so delicious!
In each bite, you get crispy tofu puffs with bits of savoury juicy minced beef inside. The fried shallots, chillies and coriander leaves add aroma.
Dutch and Hakka influences?
As we shared previously, begedil is believed to be derived from Dutch frikadel meat patties.
We couldn’t help but wonder – did the Hakka inspire the creation of tauhu begedil? (They do look similar to the yong tau foo dish of stuffed vegetables with fish paste). Either way, it’s super delicious!
Read more about begedil and the possible Dutch influence here. Also, check out our mom’s Hakka Yong Tau Foo recipe below.
A communal dish
As with the begedil daging recipe, this recipe requires a bit of time and effort as you’ll need to make incisions into each tofu and stuff them individually. However, this is also a good dish to prepare communally with your family and/or friends.
Also, it is best to make a huge batch (we cooked 600g of potatoes which yielded 48 tofu puffs to comfortably feed 10 pax).
We also recommend you prepare more meat to really stuff your puffs till they look like they are about to burst to get maximum flavour.
Best served with sambal kicap
This dish is best served with a side of sambal kicap. Get the recipe in the link below.
The sambal kicap is an essential accompaniment to the dish.
Made with sambal manis, chillies and fried shallots – the condiment is a great dip to add sweetness, heat and umami. A squeeze of calamansi juice rounds the flavour profile with some tart.
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Key tips
- As the tofu puffs and filling are cooked, we only need to briefly fry the tofu for 15-20 seconds in oil to get some crispy edges and brown colour.
- We fried shallots in advance, which we used for both the sambal kicap and tauhu begedil recipe.
Key steps in pictures
We fried shallots in advance… 
… to be used for begedil and sambal kicap. 
Mash ’em up!
Tauhu begedil RECIPE
Course: Lunch, Dinner, SnacksCuisine: Indonesian, MalayDifficulty: Easy10
servings50
minutes40
minutesCrispy fried tofu puffs, stuffed with mashed potatoes and minced meat.
Ingredients
600g Holland potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
420g fried round tofu puffs (about 48 pieces)
180g minced beef
- Minced beef marinade
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
- Other ingredients
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 tbsp crispy shallots
1 red chilli, diced and seeds removed
10g coriander leaves, roughly cut
1 tsp pepper, or to taste
0.5 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp cornstarch
3 eggs, beaten
cooking oil
Directions
- Cook minced beef
- Mix the minced beef with the marinade ingredients.
- Heat up 1-2 tbsp of cooking oil in a pan. Sauté the shallots for 1 minute, and add the minced beef.
- Fry until minced beef is cooked. Use a spatula to break the meat apart.
- Cook patatoes
- Place potatoes in a pot of water and add 2 tbsp of salt. Bring water to boil, cover with lid and set to medium heat. Boil potatoes until they have softened (15-20 minutes).
- Drain potatoes. While the potatoes are still warm, mash them with a potato masher.
- Stuff tofus
- In a bowl, mix the mashed potatoes, minced beef, cut chilli, coriander, fried shallots, salt and pepper. Taste, and add salt and pepper if necessary. Then add cornstarch and mix well.
- Make an “X” incision into a side of each tofu puff.
- Take a spoonful of mashed potatoes and stuff into the incision of each tofu.
- It’s fry time!
- Heat up cooking oil in a pan. When oil is hot enough, reduce flame to medium heat. Oil should be enough to shallow-fry the tofus.
- Dip tofus into a bowl of beaten egg, and then place them into the pan.
- Fry tofus for 15-20 seconds on each side until light golden brown.
- Once done, remove and place on a strainer to remove excess oil.
- Garnish with some fried shallots, coriander leaves and cut chillies. Serve with sambal kicap on the side. (recipe coming soon).
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