Vietnamese Fried Tofu w/ Tomato Sauce (Đậu Sốt Cà Chua) - Hungry Huy (2024)

This is a very simple fried tofu and softened tomatoes (dậu sốt cà chua), seasoned with fish sauce and quickly simmered, topped with sliced scallions and served with hot fluffy rice.

It’s a dish I enjoyed a lot growing up, that mom and grandma could whip up in half an hour. And if you can buy pre-fried tofu, you can probably cut that time in half!

What is Đậu Sốt Cà Chua?

Đậu sốt cà chua is very much one of those at-home-cooking vibes kind of food and one of my favorite comfort foods! A version I had occasionally was tofu filled with ground pork too.

As a kid I ate the meatless version on this page a lot, but never even considered the work my parents or grandma would put into making this (I appreciate it much more now).

Our family was lucky to have delicious mealsprepared for them every day of the week.The food was pretty important since it was somethingthat brought our family (now in many different households) together.

A few years after one of my uncles moved out, he came back asking grandma for this recipe–he missed it!Even a super simple dish like this remains out of reach until you know what goes into making it.

Let’s get to it!

The deep fried tofu

I like to use firm tofu for this, silken ones will be super delicate to handle for this recipe. I also try to get organic tofu whenever possible too!

Cut the tofu

Cut into smaller pieces and dry on paper towels or in a basket over the sink for 20-30 minutes. We want to remove the excess moisture from the tofu–this stuff literally is packed in water and is very water-heavy.

Press the tofu to remove moisture

Removing the water at this point helpd avoid oil splatter during frying.

Cut the tofu again, into smaller pieces, so there’s more surface area to develop that thicker fried tofu skin.

Deep fry the tofu

I fried these in vegetable oil (any neutral oil will work), keeping the temperature at 300 F (148 C) using my Polder Thermometer. Let the temperature hit 300 F before adding any tofu though.

It should take 2-4 minutes until they brown. Like anyone else in a hot tub, these guys like to bunch together and stick, so move them around a little after adding to the pot.

Were’ just looking to develop a nice, crispy skin on the tofu, without burning it. Once it looks around this level of golden brown, you can pull them out onto a paper towel to soak any excess oil.

The tomatoes

I went with bright red roma tomatoes here, they work nicely for this recipe. The riper they are, the sweeter and more tomatoey they’ll taste. My favorite is using my homegrown tomatoes grown from pots because they’re organic, sweet, and juicy.

Cut each tomato into 4 or 8 even pieces each so they’re about bite sized. It just helps them cook down in the pot a bit quicker.

Cooking time!

Add everything into the pot: tofu, tomatoes, salt, sugar, tomato paste, water, and fish sauce (yess, fish sauce is everywhere in Vietnamese cuisine!). Cover with a lid, bring to a boil on high heat, then reduce to 30% heat until the tomatoes are cooked. About 10 minutes total.

Taste and reseason

I like to season recipes so there’s room to adjust at the end. You still need seasoning during the cooking process since it gets into the sauce, and the tofu, so the goal is to get it about 80% of the way there.

Once the tomatoes have softened and the liquid has cooked down to a level you’d like, taste the sauce.

If it doesn’t taste as tomatoey as you’d like, now’s the time to add some more tomato paste. Check if it needs more salt or fish sauce now too. If it’s simply not as saucy as you’d like, add 1/4 cup of water and re-season with everything.

You can also stuff the tofu with meat before adding to the pot. See my recipe for pork-stuffed tofu! Whether go the vegetarian route or not, this goes great with fluffy white rice on the side. Here’s how to cook rice in the microwave, or in a rice cooker, with perfect results.

Top with red chili flakes or freshly ground pepper. Serve with rice.