I hope you made the Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce yesterday and have left-over sauce, because that wonderful peanut sauce is also used for this dish, Vegetarian Fish. It’s another perfect summer time food because it is served cold or at room temperature. The mung bean sprouts are crunchy and refreshing, held together by the light and thin bean curd sheets.

Vegetarian Fish 3

I’m not entirely sold on the name Vegetarian Fish but that’s just the literal translation from Chinese. Vegetarian Fish (and another one called Vegetarian Duck that I will post too) is basically a filling wrapped in bean curd sheets. It has nothing to do with fish at all and is truly vegetarian.

Having never cooked with bean curd sheets before (but eaten it countless times), I was shocked at how incredibly easy it us to use. I stood there with my mouth gaping open as my mom assembled this dish, 1, 2, 3…Why had I waited so long to use bean curd sheets? I love the way it tastes too. Imagine taking tofu, which I adore, and making it into the thinnest of crepes, with amazing elasticity, so that you can wrap anything inside. It’s a blessing!

The package looks like this. The large circle is folded in half and it’s often found in the freezer section. Keep it in your freezer. It defrosts in minutes when you want to use it.

bean curd sheets package

Inside, the dried bean curd sheet looks like this.

bean curd sheet

Vegetarian Fish
~about 24 pieces

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Get a large bowl of ice water ready on the side. Dump mung bean sprouts into the boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain and plunge into ice water immediately. Drain immediately and thoroughly. Set aside. You should be left with just under 6 cups of cooked mung bean sprouts.

blanched mung bean sprouts

2. You will need a large clean area to work. Set up a large bowl of cold water. Dip one bean curd sheet into the cold water for a few seconds, to soften. Remove from the water and lay flat.

dip in water

3. Remove the thick rim.

removing edge

4. Fill with half of the cooked mung beans sprouts (about 3 cups). Roll up like a giant burrito. Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 with the other mung bean sheet and the rest of the mung bean sprouts.

Wrapping mung bean sproutsWrapping mung bean sprouts 2
Wrapping mung bean sprouts 3
Wrapping mung bean sprouts 4
Wrapping mung bean sprouts 5
Wrapping mung bean sprouts 6
wrapped up mung bean sprouts

5. Slice in 2″ segments. Pour or drizzle as much sauce as you like.

slicing Vegetarian Fish

*My family debated a little over the sauce. Half of us like the sauce thicker (as used with cold noodles), half of us like this sauce thinner for this dish. If you want it to be thinner, just add water until you get the consistency you want. It is pictured here with a thinned sauce.

Vegetarian Fish 10

Make Ahead

You can make this dish the night before serving if you assemble but don’t slice or sauce. Store in the fridge. When you are ready to serve, you can slice and sauce in 2 minutes.

Vegetarian Fish 2

posted by jessica at 08:59 AM Filed under Chinese, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.