Saturday, January 23, 2010

Dau Hu Chien Sa--Fried Tofu with Lemongrass


The first time I tasted this dish, I was working on Pulau Galang, an Indochinese refugee camp in the Riau province in Indonesia. After it first appeared among the dishes in the staff dining hall, it became a standard that was served several times a week. Not only was it delicious, but it was cheap and popular with all the staff.

When my wife and I moved to Vietnam for a year in 1993, the family we lived with occasionally made this for me when they learned how much I loved it. One of the older aunts in the house was (is) a devout Buddhist who was strictly vegetarian, and she often had this. Although I am too weak of the spirit to give up eating the flesh, were I to become vegetarian, this would be my go to dish. In fact, even now I would choose this over a grilled hamburger any day of the week.

Although this is a simple dish, it does take some time to prepare, especially if you don't have some sort of food processor. Chopping lemongrass is a chore. Chopping it finely takes a great deal of time and effort. And this dish requires a great deal of lemongrass for just four cakes of tofu.

I had tried to make this many times before I finally learned how to do it. I had always assumed the lemongrass and the tofu were cooked together. No. When you do this you end up with burnt lemongrass, and that's not a good thing. When we returned to Vietnam the summer before last, I asked our friend Phuong, whose family we had lived with, to show me how to make it. Not only did she show me, but during the several weeks we stayed with them she cooked it for us about every other day. Heaven!

This is a dish I've never found on any Vietnamese menu. I never had it in Vietnam, except at the house where we lived. I did find a recipe for it in a cookbook I found in Vietnam, but that recipe added five-spice, which I feel detracts from the dish.



Try this along with some baby bok choy stir-fried with garlic and some jasmine rice. You won't miss the meat.

Dau Hu Chien Sa--Fried Tofu with Lemongrass

5 stalks of lemongrass, tough outer layers and green tops removed
2--3 cloves garlic, finely minced (optional)
1 small red chili, seeded and finely minced (optional)
4 cakes of fresh tofu from an Asian market (if you buy tofu in plastic tubs, cut the loaves of tofu into slices a little more than 1-inch thick)
oil
salt

Heat about a half cup of oil in a nine-inch frying pan, preferably non-stick or well seasoned. Shallow fry tofu on both sides. Make four slices three-quarters of a way through, or make an X three-quarters of the way through each cake of tofu.

Finely chop the lemongrass. Pour off about half the oil. Add the lemongrass, garlic, and chili, and fry until golden and crisp. Add a slight sprinkling of salt to taste.

Stuff the fried lemongrass mixture between the "leaves" of tofu. Serve with steamed rice.

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10 comments:

  1. yum!! this is new to use too...looks great!

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  2. Hong and Kim,
    That's funny, I had always assumed this was a fairly common dish even though I'd never seen it on menus. I'd be interested to know if your parents are familiar with it.

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  3. Brilliant! I will try this the next time I cook tofu.

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  4. wow - what an interesting dish. i'm glad you provided pictures of the tofu cause i was having a hard time visualizing how to assemble it. absolutely beautiful. how the heck did you chop the lemongras that finely. very professional!

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  5. Ju,
    Thanks. I hope you'll like it.

    We Are Never Full,
    The chopping is the critical step. In Vietnam it was hand-chopped and took a good long time. Using a food processor, it takes about five minutes.

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  6. This is definitely one of my favorites! Vern and I used to make it in Vietnam all the time. It was super-easy because lemongrass was sold all chopped up and tofu was sold already deep fried. Here's how my grandma makes it: http://gastronomyblog.com/2007/07/21/dau-hu-xa-ot/

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  7. Cathy,
    Your name for this dish is what I recall it being called. The title I use is from a Vietnamese cookbook written by a Vietnamese author, but it sounded off to me. But then, my Vietnamese sounds off to any Vietnamese speaker. Maybe the difference in names is one of those North vs South deals.

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  8. I found this dish at Some Viet restaurants in Winnipeg. But the lemongrass doesn't expose too much on the outside.

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  9. Indonesia Eats,
    Whenever I've tried this dish in a restaurant, it has been disappointing. It seems as if the cooks treat lemongrass as a precious commodity that must be used sparingly.

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  10. at girst i thoughy it was a shredded dried scallops/conpoy,
    i never try this but i guess this is truelly worth to try!!!

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