Tofu in tomato sauce is a familiar home dish, quick to cook and good with rice. The tofu is fried golden and crisp at the edges, soaks up the gently sour tomato sauce, and a scatter of spring onion and cilantro finishes the meal.
The difficulty is keeping the pieces whole while they move through the sauce. The tofu needs to be fried golden on every side so the crust is firm before it goes into the sauce. The tomatoes have to cook down until they collapse into a smooth sauce, since anything still chunky leaves the dish sharply sour.
This batch weighs about 986g, at roughly 57 calories per 100g.
Method
Cut 2 blocks of white tofu into bite sized cubes. Rinse 3 ripe tomatoes and chop them small. Finely chop 1 shallot and 2 garlic cloves. Seed the chili and slice it. Chop the spring onion and cilantro.
Heat the oil in a pan and fry the tofu until golden and crisp on all sides, then lift it onto paper towel.
Pour off most of the oil, fry the shallot and garlic until fragrant, then add the tomatoes and stir until they collapse into a sauce.
Season with 2 tablespoons vegan fish sauce, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, lower the heat and stir through.
Add the fried tofu, fold it in gently, then simmer over low heat for 5 to 7 minutes so it takes up the sauce.
Turn off the heat, scatter with spring onion, cilantro and a few slices of chili, and serve hot with white rice.
Tips
Look for tofu that is ivory white, soft to the touch and light in the hand, and avoid blocks that have yellowed or smell of lime.
Patting the tofu dry with paper before frying means less spitting oil and a crisper crust.
Peeling the tomatoes before cooking gives a smooth sauce with no curls of skin in the bowl.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves more slowly, so stir the sauce again a few minutes after seasoning for an even taste.
A wooden spoon and a gentle tilt of the pan, rather than stirring, keep the tofu whole.
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.