Stuffed tomatoes today! If you’re wondering why I sound excited, you should try cooking them and you’ll understand. This dish has everything going for it ”“ so tasty it’s hard not to stuff (sorry, another pun, I know) yourself with them, so easy because you do most of the prep the day before and forget the work you’ve already done, and SO CHEAP!

I just did the calculations in my head and provided you have the marinade and dry ingredients already in your pantry (which I did), they will cost you around 5 EUR to feed 5 ”“ that’s dinner for 1 EUR per person! I swear if I opened a small Vietnamese take-away shop that served just this dish, I would have a line down the street and I would be retiring early from the profit margin!

A big thanks to the Ravenous Couple for sharing this recipe. It makes Mikee and I smile every time we eat it 🙂

I normally serve this dish on rice sprinkled with Maggi Sauce and some freshly sliced cucumbers. Make sure you give yourself a generous helping of the tomato sauce too.

Here’s the recipe:

Stuffed Tomatoes Ca Chua Nhoi Thit

1/2 lb of ground pork

1 tsp of fish sauce

1 tsp of sugar

1 tsp of fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp of salt

2 tbs diced shallots

1/4 cup of wood ear mushrooms, chopped into small sections (soak in hot water for about 10 min or until softened)

1/2 cup of bean thread noodles, cut in 1-2″ length (soak in hot water for about 10 min or until soften)

4 large ripe tomatoes

Can of tomato sauce (optional)

1 green onion, thinly diced

Cooking oil and minced garlic for the sautee

My Aunt’s recipe calls for sectioning the tomatoes horizontally in half and coring out the inside. Set aside. If you cut the tomato at the top, there’s a lot of stuff that may cook unevenly and take a long time. By cutting it in half, you’re able to use both halves and the smaller amount of stuffing results in shorter and even cooking. Save the cored tomatoes for the sauce.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the pork, fish sauce, sugar, pepper, salt, shallots, wood ear mushrooms, bean thread noodles. Now you’re ready to stuff the tomatoes. Stuff just to the top of the tomotoes, leaving a flat surface for even cooking.

In a large sautee pan, heat cooking oil and garlic on medium high heat. Add the stuffed tomatoes with the stuffing side down first. Also add the cored tomatoes around as well.

Cook until the meat is nicely golden brown and flip once. The cored tomatoes will also soften and turn in beautiful sauce. If you like more sauce, supplement with your favourite brand of canned tomato sauce. Season with fish sauce or salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with thinly diced green onions.

Enjoy!

 

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