Crisp tofu cooked in tomato-pepper sauce (dau hu sot ca)

Ingredients

• 200 ml (7 fl oz) vegetable oil
• 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) silken tofu, drained and cut into 3 cm (1¼ inch) cubes
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp minced red Asian shallots
• 1 bird's eye chilli, finely sliced
• 4 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 spring onions (scallions), cut into 5 cm (2 inch) lengths
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 coriander (cilantro) sprigs, to garnish

Instructions

Pour the oil into a wok and heat to 180°C (350°F), or until a cube of bread dropped into the oil browns in 15 seconds. 

Add the tofu, cooking it in two batches to ensure the oil stays hot, and deep-fry until crisp. Remove the tofu with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towel to drain.

Transfer the deep-frying oil into a heatproof deep bowl, leaving about 1 tbsp of oil in the wok.

Add the garlic, Asian shallots and chilli to the wok, and stir-fry for 1 minute or until fragrant.

Add the tomato, salt, sugar and fish sauce. Stir and allow the tomato to break down.

Add 100 ml (3½ fl oz) water to the wok, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the crisp tofu, spring onions and black pepper, folding it all together, and simmer for no longer than 1 minute as you want to keep the crisp texture of the tofu.

Garnish with coriander.