International dishesTofu DishesChinaabout 20 minutes
This gives a pan of red, spicy sauce that goes a long way with rice. The difficulty is the silken tofu, which is so fragile that one heavy stir breaks up the whole pan.
The pork is pressed apart with a spoon into small crumbles before the seasoning goes in. The tofu is lowered gently into the sauce, then the heat comes down for another 5 minutes so it takes on the flavor.
This batch weighs about 620g, at roughly 155 calories per 100g.
Method
Set a pan over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon cooking oil, and once it is hot fry 4 cloves of minced garlic until fragrant.
Add 200g ground pork and stir, pressing it apart with a spoon into small crumbles.
Add 3 teaspoons ground dried chili, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 2 teaspoons seasoning powder, 1 teaspoon MSG, 2 teaspoons kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons warm water to the pan, one after another.
Stir until the mixture thickens, then add the 4 diced shiitake mushrooms and stir them through.
Lower the pieces of 250g silken tofu into the sauce gently, turn them carefully so they take on the flavor, then lower the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Tip the tofu onto a plate, spoon the sauce over, and scatter over 3 chopped spring onions.
Tips
Turn gently and shake the pan rather than stirring, so the tofu stays whole.
Leaving out the pork gives a vegetarian version.
Ground nutmeg and ground dried chili are sold at supermarket spice counters.
Ground dried chili can be swapped for Korean chili powder for a pretty red color with less heat.
Blanch the silken tofu in lightly salted water before it goes into the sauce, and the pieces hold together better.
A full 5 minutes of gentle simmering matters, as a rushed one leaves the tofu seasoned only on the outside.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.