Lemongrass stuffed tofu in ginger tomato sauce

First published in 2010, I'm giving this lemongrass stuffed tofu recipe and post a much needed refresh in 2025. In my greener cooking and recipe writing days, I overcomplicated methods and ingredients that can easily be made more straightforward.

It's been a few years now since my last visit to Vietnam, but every time I've visited that wonderful country the tofu dishes sparkly so brightly that I want to eat them for every meal. Two I especially love are Vietnamese tomato tofu and lemongrass fried tofu; the recipe at the bottom of this post is inspired by both, only cooked in a different style, and with added ginger.

When I originally wrote this post, food blogging internet was in its early days and my cookbook collection was far more limited. In other words, I had fewer resources to learn from. Initially, I bound the tofu with string in order to hold in the filling, and for the life of me the only reason I can imagine why is because I didn't yet know there were more practical methods. I also made some bizarre claim about the healthiness of palm sugar and stated that red chillies are more complementary to Southeast Asian flavours than to any other. The cocky self-assuredness of a young white lady opining with too little information in her pocket, yet unaware there will always be too littl.

Needless to say there is no string in this updated lemongrass stuffed tofu recipe, but I did add a new ingredient: wood ear mushrooms. This is for added texture more than anything, but don't lose sleep if you don't have any. You can omit them if you must.

Most Vietnamese stuffed tofu recipes fry the tofu first, or call for store bought pre-fried tofu (not tofu puffs), and my original recipe also called for deep frying the tofu first. I exchanged the deep frying in favour of a shallow frying the tofu after it's been stuffed in the updated recipe. The reason is twofold. First of all I forgot to follow my own instructions, but then I realised deep frying is off putting to so many people and this method actually works just as well (as you can see by the above photo). So I stuck with it.

Print Recipe

Lemongrass stuffed tofu in ginger tomato sauce

Hollowing out the tofu is easier if you work with larger pieces. Try to aim for six 2x2 inch squares that are around 1 inch tall. If one tears at the side, don't worry too much because it will probably still hold together okay once it's friend (and if it doesn't it will still taste good in the end).

Servings: 2 servings, with rice

Ingredients

For the tofu

• 400 grams firm tofu cut into large cubes
• 5 grams dried wood ear mushrooms rehydrated in hot water and roughly chopped (4-ish)
• 2 spring onions minced (about ¼ cup)
• 2 rounded tablespoons minced lemongrass (slice thinly then mince)
• 2 teaspoons tapioca starch
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• â…› teaspoon mushroom seasoning powder or MSG
• Vegetable oil for frying

For the sauce

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons minced shallot
• ½ tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon finely minced or grated ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
• 325 grams tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 60 millilitres water ¼ cup

To serve

• Fresh coriander
• Fresh spring onion
• Toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

Prepare the tofu

• Optional but recommended step: Boil the tofu for 5 minutes in water with 2% salt by weight (e.g. 500 grams/ml water + 10 grams salt). Strain and leave to cool and air dry on kitchen roll or a cookie rack for 30 minutes. This improves the texture and flavour.
• When the tofu is cool enough to handle, carefully cut out the centre part. I use a knife to trace where I’ll scoop, and then use a small spoon or fork to dig the tofu out. Put all of the tofu you dig out into a bowl.
  
• Add the mushrooms, spring onion, lemongrass, tapioca starch, soy sauce, sugar, and mushroom seasoning powder (or MSG) to the bowl. Mash the mixture with a fork to ensure everything is combined. Then stuff this mixture back into the holes you dug out of the tofu cubes. It’s okay if the filling overflows a little bit.
• Heat a generous amount of oil to medium high heat in a wok or frying pan to shallow fry. Place the tofu in, filling side down and cook for 1-2 minutes until browned. Turn the tofu using chopsticks or tongs, frying each side until golden. This will take around ten minutes. When finished, remove the tofu to a wire rack or kitchen roll.
  

Make the sauce

• Turn the heat down to medium and pour off all but about 2 teaspoons of the oil (if there's a lot you can save it for another use). Add the shallots and garlic, frying for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add the ginger and turmeric, stir frying for another minute or so.
• Add the tomatoes and soy sauce. Cook for around 5 minutes, until the tomato breaks down. Add the water, give it a good stir to combine everything, and nestle the fried tofu pieces into the sauce, filling side up. Cook for 10-15 minutes.

To serve

• Sprinkle with fresh coriander, spring onion, and toasted sesame seeds to serve (all optional but toasted sesame is especially recommended).