Steam Tofu with Pork Mince in Soya Bean Sauce- A simple dinner dish

It's in mid July middle of winter and it's very cold in Melbourne. I just want an easy, warm and healthy dinner. Tofu is one of my favourite ingredient. It's soft, silky and nutritious. I love the softness of steam tofu with the flavourful stir fried port mince. It's simply delicious with a bowl of white rice in the cold night. 

 

This is the second time i cook this dish. I was telling myself that i have to drop down the ingredient and keep the recipe. It's really an easy and yummy dish for a midweek dinner. It's will be served on dinner table in less than half and hour. 

1 soft/silk tofu
250g pork mince

2 cloves of garlic ( finely chopped)
1 red chili ( finely chopped)
1 inch of ginger ( finely grated)
1 tbsp dried shrimp skin
spring onion for garnish
1 tbsp soya bean sauce

Pork Marinate:
1/2 tbsp soya sauce
1/4 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 tbsp cooking wine
1/4 tsp pepper


1. Marinate the pork mince.
2. Heat the oil and stir fry the garlic, ginger and red chili until fragrance. Then add the soya bean sauce.
3. Add in the marinated pork mince with the dried shrimp skin. Stir fry until nearly cooked.
4. Pour the pork mince on top of the tofu. Steam for 10 minutes
5. Garnish with spring onion, coriander or some freshly cut chili.
6.. Serve with white rice.

Vietnamese Spring Roll Vermicelli

1 package of vermicelli
Fresh vegetable: Mint, beansprouts, Cucumber, diced matchstick size, Lettuce, thinly chopped
Pickled carrots

Roasted peanuts, coarsely crushed
Scallion oil ( 2 tbs chop scallions, add about 2 tbs of hot olive oil and pinch of sugar and salt)
Dipping fish sauce (nuoc mam cham)

1. Place vermicelli in boiling water for about 6-8 min, stirring regularly so it won't stick to the bottom of the pot.
2. Once done, drain and flush with cold water to stop cooking process.
3. In large bowl, combine spring roll with lots fresh herbs, cucumbers, beansprouts, pickled carrots
   and, crushed roasted peanuts, scallion oil and dress with nuoc mam cham (dipping fish sauce).

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam Cham)

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce is used as the sauce for the vermicelli. It can be used as dipping sauce for the spring role as well. It’s tasty and refreshing.

 

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam Cham)

    1 ½ cup  water

    10 Tbsp fish sauce

    6 Tbsp fresh lime juice

    6 tsp rice vinegar

    6 Tbsp sugar

    1 deseeded and finely chopped fresh red chili

    4 cloves of finely chopped garlic

    ¼ cup finely sliced pickled carrots (optional)

1.       Combine water, rice vinegar and sugar in a saucepan, and gently bring this to a boil.

2.       Allow this mixture to cool down.

3.       Add the fish sauce, lime juice, chili, garlic and carrots into the mixture.

Note: If you have any leftovers, just put it into a container and freeze it for another meal.

*** The Vietnamese Vermicelli with Spring Roll Post is coming SOon..

Pickled Carrot

Vietnamese food is one of our favorite foods. It’s refreshing, tasty and healthy. Another than the traditional famous Pho (beef noodle soup), we like to have Vietnamese Vermicelli. Vietnamese vermicelli is a bowl of noodle filled with a lot of colourful fresh veges and herbs. It’s topped with peanut salt and mixed with the Vietnamese dipping sauce (Nuoc Mam Cham).

Pickled carrot is one of the topping for the vermicelli. I like the crunchiness of the pickled carrot. It’s easy to make and it can kept in the fridge for months. Here is the recipe of the pickled carrot.

Carrot

Distilled white vinegar

Salt and sugar to taste

Add carrots along with just enough vinegar to submerge the vegetables in pickling container. Carefully season the pickling juice with roughly equal amounts of salt and sugar to taste. Pickle for at least 1 hr before use. It can be kept in the fridge for months.