Cookwithus #14 Stuffed Tapioca Dumplings Thai Style And Vegan

I was born in Bangkok and left at the age of four to live in Canada for the rest of my life. My father was Canadian my mother was Thai. She was a brilliant Thai cook, from what my father always said. She passed away when I was eight, (not a sob story), and took her knowledge of Thai cooking with her before I could learn about cooking Thai food.

From the time she started hospital visits, when I was five, my father took over in the kitchen. I would be brought up on peanut butter sandwiches, and Chef Boyardee canned spaghetti, which I loved and looked forward to eating , when I heard the can opening, I was like a typical house cat. My father just put things in the steamer. He did try to give me better quality things, like whole grains and instead of regular hot dogs I got ones from the German deli.

I had a vague memory of foods that I would eat as a small child in Thailand. Most things I couldn't describe, except for to say they were delicious. However one thing that has stuck in my memory is a street food, stuffed tapioca balls. I'm not sure if my mother made them or if we got it from a street vendor. I just remember how I loved them so much.

They were filled with pork and wrapped in a lettuce leaf with peanuts in them and we popped them in our mouths just like that as far as I recall.

Today I made a vegan version of this dish with tofu instead of pork. This was the first time since I was three or four that I have had anything like this. I don't know why I didn't try to make this sooner. I went on a wonderful trip down memory lane.

I made mine bigger so we ate them with a fork. I didn't have enough time in the kitchen to roll out many little balls. My inlaws whose kitchen it is, were out shopping and would return at any minute so I had to speed it up and make them bigger to complete the job faster. The good news is that Marc and I both start work this weekend, and soon after will move out, to a place with our own kitchen.

I started with soaking some tapioca in hot water. I didn't think that it would be so fast. After a few minutes they were soft enough to strain.

I shredded the firm tofu with a fine grate.

I chopped and minced what would be sauteed with the tofu which was garlic, green onion, ginger, and hot chili pepper, cilantro and Thai basil.

Everything was sauteed together in sesame oil.

I added a soy sauce that I boiled with seaweed to try to make it like fish sauce which should be used in this dish, but I only got a slightly different flavor. I also added rice wine vinegar and cane sugar.

The tofu mixture was not sticky enough like pork would be, so I added peanut butter to keep it together better. Peanuts are part of the dish anyway.

To stuff the balls I formed a patty in my hand, pushed a dent into it and placed some tofu mixture on top, pressing it gently inside than closing the top gap.

I felt like steaming them would be the best bet but I didn't have any banana leaf to line the pot with so I used some lettuce. It worked fine. I suppose parchment paper or boiling would be another option.

I browned some minced garlic to roll the balls into the oil and garnish with the pieces.

They were topped with garlic oil, garlic pieces and minced garlic.

This is the first time Marc has ever had anything like this so I was happy that he really liked them a lot and dared to eat them with a raw hot chili pepper. I cut small pieces to add to it. We love our spice.

Saku Sai Moo สาคูไส้หมู I believe this is how it's called. I'm not one hundred percent sure.

I'm sure of one thing though and that is, that I would love to go back to Thailand and check out all of the foods I might have eaten in the beginning of my life, not that I haven't eaten Thai food here in Canada. There are other things that would never be on a menu here that I once had. I believe these stuffed tapioca balls may be one of them.