Pork-Stuffed Tofu With Tomato Sauce
By: Tam Ho
Published: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 7:11pm

Ingredients




Pork-stuffed tofu
2 14 or 16 oz.s tubs firm tofu, or medium tofu
1 pound ground pork, or chicken
2 eggs
2 scallions, chopped
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons fish sauce
Vegetable or canola oil for frying
Sliced scallions to garnish, optional
Tomato sauce
1 tablespoon oil
5 cloves garlic
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, or whole tomatoes broken up
1 tablespoon fish sauce, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon sugar, more to taste

Preparation

1 For the pork-stuffed tofu - drain tofu in a fine-meshed sieve for at least 10 min. 2 In a large bowl, beat two eggs.  Add ground meat, scallions, fish sauce, salt and pepper and gently stir together. 3 Slice the block of tofu in half, and then each half into thirds or quarters so you have 6 - 8 slices - you want them to be about 1/2" thick.  These are fairly thin slices but I prefer stuffing the filling shallower to ensure everything cooks through, rather than thicker slices and stuffing the filling deeper into the tofu 4 With a small spoon, scoop out some of the tofu from each slice, creating a little well to stuff meat into.  Make sure you leave a border of tofu around the well, and if you go through the other side of the tofu a little, don't worry about it.  As long as most of it's intact, it'll stay together just fine.  Place the stuffed tofu slices on a few layers of paper towel to keep absorbing any excess moisture from the tofu. Add the scooped out tofu to the meat mixture and gently stir in. 5 Stuff the meat filling into the tofu, smoothing it out on top to cover most of the tofu.  Form any remaining meat filling into small patties about 2" wide and about 1/2" thick - they'll be pretty loose patties so you'll be better off with smaller patties. 6 In a large nonstick skillet, pour enough oil to cover the whole bottom with a thin layer.  Heat oil over medium high heat.  Reduce heat to medium and place tofu slices in, tofu side down.  Cook until browned, about 4-5 minutes. 7 While tofu is cooking, start the tomato sauce.  In a medium saucepan, heat a tablespoon of oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook until softened.  Add tomatoes, fish sauce, salt, pepper and sugar.  Let simmer about 10 min.  Taste and adjust seasoning to your own taste. If it has gotten too thick or the flavors are a little strong, add a little broth or water to thin out and let simmer a little longer. 8 Back to the tofu - flip pieces over and cook for another 4-5 minutes until the meat side is lightly browned and the meat is cooked through.  If the oil and pan has gotten pretty hot, it may take less than this.  You may also want to reduce the heat a little if it seems really hot.  When finished, move the slices to a plate lined with a few layers of paper towels, or a rack over a baking sheet to drain. 9 Repeat with the remaining tofu and any patties you have. 10 Serve pork-stuffed tofu and patties over brown jasmine rice (or white if you prefer) and spoon tomato sauce over them.  Garnish with sliced scallions.  You can also serve with a simple vegetable if you like to round out the meal.

About


This is a favorite from growing up - a mixture of pork, scallions and fish sauce is stuffed into slices of tofu, pan fried and then served with a sweet and salty tomato sauce and served over rice.  You could also try this with ground chicken, though don't go too lean. I use a fattier ground pork - fattier pork gives it a little more flavor and texture, but you can use leaner pork if you prefer. 
This recipe makes enough for two tubs of tofu - any additional pork mixture can be formed into patties or meatballs and pan-fried and served with the tomato sauce as well.  I used a firm tofu here, but you could get away with using medium firm tofu as well. 
You can halve the recipe to work with one tub of tofu but leftovers reheat well and typically, people tend to buy ground meat by the pound so I made this for 1 lb. pork.