It’s a simple dish of cooked tofu and softened tomatoes (dau hu sot ca chua ) that are which is seasoned with fish sauce. It is rapidly simmered, then garnished with scallions sliced and served with hot , fluffy rice.
It was a meal I loved often as a kid which my grandma and mom were able to whip up in about just half an hour. If you could purchase pre-fried tofu it’s possible to reduce that time by half!
What exactly is Dau Sot Ca Chua?
Dau sot ca chua is an extremely popular comfort foods that you can cook at home and is one of my top food items to eat in comfort! The version I ate occasionally was tofu stuffed by ground pork as well.
As a kid , I used to eat the meatless version found on this site a lot and never thought about the effort my parents or grandma did to make this (I find it more enjoyable now).
Our family was fortunate to have delicious meals made for them each day of the week. Food was very important because it was what made our household (now in a variety of homes) together.
After a couple of years, the uncle of mine had moved out and returned, he asked grandmother for this recipe. He had not heard of it! Even a simple dish such as this can be inaccessible until you understand what goes in making it.
Let’s get going!
The tofu that is deep-fried and fried
I like using tofu that is firm for this recipe as silky ones are very fragile to handle for this recipe. I also make an effort to purchase organic tofu as often as I can!
Slice the Tofu
Break into pieces, and dried on paper towels, or in a basket on the sink for 20-30 mins. It is important to get rid of any excess water from tofu*. The substance is literally packed with water and has a high water content.
You can try: Bun Rieu Recipe (Vietnamese Crab, Pork, Tofu & Tomato Noodle Soup)
The tofu should be pressed to release any moisture
The removal of the water from this point will help to avoid splashing oil while frying.
Cut the tofu, again in smaller pieces so that there’s more space to create that more fatty fried tofu skin.
Tofu can be deep fried
I cooked these using vegetable oils (any neutral oil can be used) The temperature was kept in the 300 F (148 C) using my thermometer from Polder. It should be at 300 F before adding any tofu.
It’s recommended to cook them for approximately 2-4 minutes to turn brown. Just like everyone else in the hot tub, they will tend to get clumped together and stick to each other, therefore, you should you may have to move them around when you add them to the pot.
We’re trying to create a beautiful crispy, crisp skin for the tofu so that it doesn’t burn. When it reaches this golden brown, remove them onto a towel to soak up any extra oil.
The tomatoes
I used bright red roma tomatoes as they’re perfect to make this dish. The riper they’re the more sweeter and tomato-like they’ll taste. My favorite is to use my home-grown tomatoes that are grown in the pots because they’re fresh, sweet, and delicious.
Slice each tomato in four or eight equally sized pieces so that they’re bite-sized. It helps them cook down in the pot faster.
See more: Vietnamese Tomato egg drop soup
Time to cook!
Put everything in the pot including tomatoes, tofu, sugar, salt tofu paste, tomato water as well as seafood sauce (yess the fish sauce is ubiquitous in Vietnamese food!). Cover the pot with a lid and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the heat to 30 percent until the tomatoes have cooked. Around 10 minutes total.
Taste and then reseason
I prefer to season my recipes to allow enough room for adjustment when the dish is finished. It is still necessary to season in the cooking process because it is absorbed into the sauce, as well as the tofu. So the aim is to get it approximately 80% of way to the point of being.
After the tomatoes have softened after which the tomato liquid cooked to a temperature you’d like, you can taste the sauce.
If it’s not more tomato-like than you’d like, it’s moment to add tomato paste. You can determine if it requires more salt, or some fish sauce also. If it’s not as delicious as you’d like you’d like, you can add 1/4 cup of water, and refresh with everything.
It is also possible to stuff it with meat prior to adding it to the pot. Find my recipes to make Tofu stuffed with pork! No matter if you go vegetarian or otherwise, it dish is perfectly with fluffy white rice served on the side. This is how you prepare the rice by microwave as well as in a rice cooker and get excellent outcomes.
Serve with chili powder and freshly crushed pepper. Enjoy with rice.
Vietnamese Fried Tofu with Tomato Sauce – Đậu Hủ Sốt Cà Chua
Ingredients
DEEP FRIED TOFU
- 1 lb firm tofu pre-fried tofu can be great if you live near a shop that fries these fresh daily
- oil for deep frying
TOMATO SAUCE
- 5 ripe Roma tomatoes medium size, cut into 4ths or 6ths▢ 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp fish sauce optional, but..not really!
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 c water
GARNISH
- 1 stalk green onions finely sliced
Instructions
TOFU DEEP FRYING (OR Buy a pre-cooked version)
- Cut the blocks of tofu by cutting them in halves lengthwise (so they're less bulky and can take out more moisture) Then, cut them cut into smaller pieces to get rid of more moisture.
- Extract the all the moisture from the tofu. the tofu should be placed on a plate along with an old kitchen towel or paper towels on top and below the tofu. Cover it with a second plate to help it weight it down and remove moisture for about 20-30 minutes. This can prevent oil from splashing during the cooking. This is how it appears after pressing.
- Fry your tofu. In a pan, heat the oil to 300 F Then add four or five pieces of tofu one at a time and fry them until golden brown. Make sure you move them around slightly after adding to avoid sticking. The process should take only just a couple of minutes per. Transfer the ones that have been fried to a the plate using a towel to drain the oil. Then, continue to fry the remainder until they're all cooked.
TOMATO SAUCE
- Cut tomatoes into bite-sized pieces. It's about 4-8 pieces for each tomato. This will make them cook faster too.
- In a medium-sized pot, combine all of ingredients to the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil over high, and then reduce to simmering at 30 percent temperatures for 10 minutes or until the tomatoes are tender and the liquid has reached the desired level of concentration.
- Try the sauce now. Check to see if it requires additional tomato paste or fish sauce, or sugar. In the event that tomatoes don't seem particularly tasty or ripe when they first start I'd suggest adding additional tomatoes, tomato paste and perhaps some salt now.
- Incorporate the tofu into the pot and mix until it is fully mixed.
- Continue mixing for a couple of minutes until the tofu gets warm and soaks up some the sauce. Taste and adjust as needed before topping with scallions cut into slices and serve!
