STAY HOME & EAT – Halal Yong Tau Foo (6 Flavours!)

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What else can we stay-home circuit breakers order in or takeaway with just a budget of $20 enough to feed 4 people? Da Jie Niang Dou Fu & Hainan Chicken Rice is worth a try! No prizes for guessing what they specialise in, but what’s unique is – their food is halal. For a family with different tastes, I’d say go for their Yong Tau Foo – for a minimum order of 5 pieces at 80 cents each, you get a massive variety of ingredients to choose from within their refrigerated display. Whether you love deep fried goodies like wantons, chicken nuggets, prawn wrapped in potato and yam rolls, or toufu stuffed with fishpaste, fishballs and beancurd skin, or veggies like eggplant, lady’s finger, bittergourd, chinese cabbage, xiao bai cai, kang kong, as well as instant noodles, chewy glass noodles, mushrooms, sausages and more. Best of all, everything 6 different flavours, including tom yam & their healthier soup option.

But I chose to try their original Hakka-style yong tau foo. Instead of using minced pork as a stuffing, they use minced chicken. Your chosen items (traditionally deep-fried) are smothered in a starchy, savoury-sweet sauce, thick with the subtle flavour of taucheo, or fermented bean paste. This comes with lots of soup on the side, full of the sweet, nutritious soy beans. A highlight for me was the chilli sauce, which gives a hint of heat and a great vinegary tang that seems to come from tiny chopped bits of pickled vegetables. They also provided lots of the ubiquitous sweet brown yong tau foo dipping sauce.

I also ordered the Laksa version with fish paste-stuffed taupok, steamed toufu, eggplant, bittergourd, fishball and thick bee hoon. The gravy was very lemak – rich in coconut milk with pleasant warmth and the sweet umami flavour of dried shrimp. It was even better the next day after the bee hoon had absorbed all the tasty gravy!

For those missing steamboat, their mala soup is a good option – you can choose your level of spiciness – I went for the spiciest and indeed, it hit me with its heat! The soup had lots of dried chilli charred from their wok, numbing szechuan peppercorns and fresh coriander in it, but thankfully wasn’t too oily.

My fourth choice was Ampang Yong Tau Foo, which was drenched in a dark brown, sweet & sour sauce that had a deeper, richer, more smoky flavour than the original. It was mildly spicy and garlicky and I can imagine it’d go really well with hot steamed rice. But I’m trying to cut down on carbs, so with the exception of the bee hoon in the Laksa, I stuck to 5 pieces of stuffed beancurd or veggies.

Ultimately, was Da jie’s the best I’ve ever had? No, but it’s really decent. Does it hit the spot? Absolutely. Da Jie dishes out Yong Tau Foo that’s comforting & satisfying. You can get reasonably priced variety to feed 4 for less than $20.

Here’s my breakdown:
4 Yong Tau foo Sets (5 pieces each) = $16
Add thick bee hoon = $0.80
Add sauce/ soup = $1.50
Charge for takeaway containers = $0.80 (20 cents each)
Parking for pick-up = $0.70
Total = $19.80

If you want to supplement your Yong Tau Foo meal, they also have other local faves like poached & roasted chicken rice, kampong fried rice and wok-fried mala xiang guo, all 100% halal and available via most food delivery apps.

TASTE:
DA JIE NIANG DOU FU & HAINAN CHICKEN RICE
Clementi Outlet
Blk 354 Clementi Ave 2 #01-253 Singapore 120354
Tel: +65 6774 2030
Opening hours: 10AM to 10PM

Bukit Batok Outlet
Blk 372 Bukit Batok Street 31 #01-374 Singapore 650372
Tel: +65 9839 6813
Opening Hours: 10AM to 10PM