Vietnamese Fried Tofu with Tomato Sauce - Đậu Hủ Sốt Cà Chua
Dau hu sot ca chua can be described as an extremely easy recipe to prepare, using the fried tofu and the roma tomatoes that are quickly simmered until soft and then seasoned by fish sauce. Ideal for a easy family meal.
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!