My Search for Hakka Style Yong Tau Foo

If you’ve been watching our recent videos, you might have noticed that I have lost a bit of weight. That’s because we’ve been on a low-carb diet. I’ve been doing more home cooking, where I’ve been learning to work with alternatives to sugar and refined carbs. When eating out, we try to choose dishes that support our dietary goals.

One hawker favourite that fits the bill is Yong Tau Foo. I especially enjoy the traditional Hakka-style version that uses a savoury minced meat stuffing instead of fish paste. I love the robust flavour of the minced pork which is usually mixed with dried sole fish and even salted fish at some places. It really hits all the right umami buttons for me. And I can still limit my carbohydrate intake at the same time!

Traditional Hakka-style Yong Tau Foo is not as common as the modern version found in most food courts. Many stalls had switched to using pure fish paste for the stuffing during the Nipah virus outbreak, which affected the pork supply. This was further compounded by the health mindset at the time, which focused on cutting down on pork fat. As a result, most Yong Tau Foo today is stuffed with fish paste. However, things have been changing in recent years, and the old-school meat stuffing is making a gradual comeback!

My usual spot for Hakka Yong Tau Foo had been