← Nouns Cooking · Vietnamese

Ingredients

• 450 g firm tofu (or ready-fried tofu)
• 250 ml oil, for shallow-frying
• 250 g Minced pork
• 2 Spring onion, finely sliced, white and green kept apart
• 1 Shallot, minced
• 1 tbsp Fish sauce
• 1 tsp Sugar
• ¼ tsp Black pepper
• 5 g dried wood ear mushroom, soaked and finely chopped (optional)
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 4 Tomato, diced
• 1 tbsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 120 ml Water
• ½ tbsp Fish sauce
• 2 tsp Sugar

Method

1. Pat the tofu dry and cut it into 8 thick rectangles. Fry in the hot oil over medium-high heat for 6–8 min, turning, until golden all over. Drain on paper (skip this if using ready-fried tofu). Keep 2 tbsp of the oil.
2. Mix the pork with the spring onion whites, shallot, fish sauce, sugar, pepper and wood ear.
3. Cut a deep slit along one side of each tofu piece and gently open it into a pocket. Pack in the filling and smooth the top.
4. Heat the 2 tbsp oil in a wide pan and fry the tofu filling side down for 3–4 min, until the pork is browned and sealed. Lift out.
5. In the same pan, fry the garlic for 30 seconds, then add the tomatoes and cook for 5 min until they collapse. Stir in the tomato paste, water, fish sauce and sugar.
6. Return the tofu to the sauce, cover and simmer for 8–10 min, turning once, until the filling is firm and cooked through. Scatter with the spring onion greens and serve with rice.

Tips

• Contains soy.
• Make it vegetarian by stuffing the tofu with chopped mushrooms and glass noodles and seasoning with soy sauce instead of fish sauce.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Vicky Pham Hungry Huy Helen’s Recipes