January has been pretty fucking bleak so far, and those I’ve talked to feel the same: tired on the outside, screaming within. So, here’s some food for comfort: Đậu hũ kho nấm, a Vietnamese stew that will add another veggie day or two to the week.
This is based on a recipe from Luke Nguyon’sThe Songs of Sapa. It’s his mother’s recipe which he generously shares. Whilst a broader search will find variations on the theme, nothing beats the simplicity of this, nor the aromas that come from the pot as it simmers away on the stove.
I’ve used palm sugar, subbed red chillies for bird’s eye and upped the garlic: it requires a lot, crushed – nothing new in my kitchen but you might want to buy a garlic crusher; using the flat side of my blade night after night for a year has just started to properly do my head in. I’ll go back to using my knife once the urge to pull the skin off my face paces. On our last zoom, a friend told me she had a moment in the kitchen where, surrounded by her family, the people she loves most, she suddenly wanted to punch the inside of her fridge. This is our third lockdown but it’s not getting any easier.
Will serve 2 as a low-carb main, or 4 if served with Thai jasmine rice. The combination works and the rice is a doddle to make: without rinsing, add one cup of rice to one and a quarter cups of cold water in a pan, bring to a quick simmer, put a lid on it and simmer for 13 minutes, then move the pan off the heat, keeping the lid on and leave it to stand for another 13 minutes. All in all, it should take half an hour to achieve. Don’t lift the lid off until the very end or the rice won’t steam.
If you can’t get silken tofu, doesn’t matter – any tofu will do.
Ingredients:
- Silken tofu, 1 x 800g pack, approx. 400-500g drained
- 750ml sunflower oil, for deep frying
- 2 tbsp. palm sugar
- 125 ml light soy
- 1 tsp. dark soy
- Half bulb garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp. rapeseed oil
- 250g shiitake
- Generous pinch crushed black pepper
- 3 red chillies, sliced on the diagonal
Instructions:
- Cut your block of tofu into cubes or oblongs, doesn’t matter so long as they are even, about 2.5/3cm sq.
- Deep fry the tofu in sunflower oil till crisp, about 3-4 mins. Try not to burn yourself or bring the house down
- Move the fried cubes to kitchen towel and leave to cool
- Mix the palm sugar with the light and dark soy in a large mixing bowl
- To this add the shiitake and tofu and mix: for the shiitake, you want to remove the hard stems, halving the larger mushrooms, keeping the smaller ones whole
- In a small non-stick pan, heat the rapeseed oil and add the crushed garlic. Heat till garlic begins to crisp, then drain through a sieve, keeping the oil and the fried garlic separate
- Add the garlic oil to the shiitake and tofu marinade, add half the fried garlic and a generous pinch of crushed black pepper. Toss this together. You want the shiitake and tofu 15 mins in the soy mix before moving everything to a heavy bottomed pan – either a clay pot or cocotte
- Bring this mix to a boil, then add 800 ml water, bring back to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Keeping an eye on the pot as you want it to simmer until the liquid has reduced by half. This will take about 40 mins, although if you are reheating the stew later, you might want to turn it off after 30mins and leave the pot on the hob with the lid on to allow the flavours to develop. You can reduce the liquid when you reheat it again
- When you are ready to serve, turn the heat off, add the remainder of garlic and stir in. Garnish individual bowls with chopped red chilli to taste
FU2020 