Roast Pork with Tofu (火腩炆豆腐)

Roast pork is one of my favourite dishes because of its crackling skin and tender, flavoursome meat. Leftover roast pork (from Chinese New Year feasting!) however tends to lose its freshness and its crunch. Occasionally, the roast pork did not turn out to be as tender as it should be or the skin is not crunchy : What do we do when this happens?

Braising the roast pork with tofu is an excellent solution. With slow cooking over a low heat, the meat becomes super tender and the skin achieves a soft, spongy texture that is really yummy. The gravy is flavoursome and the tofu absorb all that delicious roast pork flavour. This is one of my favourite dishes using leftover roast pork.

INGREDIENTS

• 250 gm roast pork (cut into thick 1/2 inch slices)

• 1 red pepper (dice)

• 1 carrot (dice)

• 1 tube of silken tofu (cut into 1/2 inch rounds, dry with paper towel)

• 1 tablespoon cornflour (for coating tofu)

• 2 cloves garlic (remove skin and fry in oil till golden)

• 1 tablespoon oil

• 2 shallots (slice)

• 2 slices ginger

• 1 tablespoon taucheo (soya bean paste)

• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce

• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine

• 1 cup of water

• Thickener (1 tablespoon cornflour + 1 tablespoon water)

METHOD

1. Fry garlic cloves in oil till golden, remove and set aside.

2. Coat the tofu rounds with a thin layer of cornflour. Add to the hot oil and fry till golden brown on both sides. Remove and set aside.

3. Add shallot and ginger to the oil and give them a quick stir, till fragrant.

4. Add roast pork slices, red pepper, carrot and fried garlic and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

5. Add seasoning: taucheo, oyster sauce, sesame oil and sugar and stir well to combine. Drizzle cooking wine and add a cup of water. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer for 20 mins.

6. By now, the roast pork should be quite tender. Taste the gravy and adjust seasoning to your liking. Finally add the fried tofu, making sure the tofu is steeped into the gravy. Continue to simmer for another 10 mins.

7. Thicken the gravy by slowly adding cornflour mixed with water. 

You may also like the following posts:

Braised Belly Pork from Hangzhou (東坡肉)

Mao’s Red-Braised Belly Pork (红烧肉)