This tomato tofu recipe is a delicious home-cooked vegan and vegetarian Chinese stir-fry. The Chinese love their tomatoes, mixed with eggs, beef, or in soup. Here, we pair it with silky soft tofu.
Plenty of tomatoes, scallion, and some key pantry seasonings make for a tomato-y gravy that’s perfect over rice!
A Vegan Tofu Recipe
This is a vegan / plant-based recipe. However, you can also make it with non-vegan umami boosting ingredients if you like, like regular oyster sauce instead of vegetarian oyster sauce. Use it as a blueprint to suit your tastes!
This is a pretty light dish, so we’d recommend making it as a light lunch or dinner, or pairing it with one or two other dishes to round out a full Chinese spread.
Tip!
If you like, you can also use cubed or roughly crumbled firm tofu instead of soft or silken tofu. However, we think the custardy texture of the soft tofu really works here!
Important Tomato Notes!
As for what kind of tomato to use, this recipe is pretty forgiving—you can use any ripe, sweet tomatoes you can find. We used some medium tomatoes and also cherry tomatoes. Both worked fine.
Fresh in-season tomatoes are best for this dish, but in a pinch you could use frozen tomatoes or even canned tomatoes.
If you have a non-reactive stainless steel wok gathering dust at the back of your cabinet (carbon steel is the go-to wok material), now is actually the time to break it out.
Cooking a large quantity of tomatoes like this actually creates quite a bit of acidity, which can react with the carbon steel of standard woks, giving the dish a faintly metallic taste and stripping away your wok patina.
That said, you can just use a regular stainless steel, non-stick, or ceramic skillet for this recipe. If you do end up using your carbon steel or cast iron wok, remove the food from the wok immediately, and wash it promptly after you’re finished cooking.
Be sure to follow our wok seasoning protocols to begin restoring the patina after cooking acidic tomatoes!
It’s Crucial to Season to Taste Here!
This dish is not quite as flavorful as its counterpart made with eggs, but it is a healthy and easy way to cook soft tofu when you’re flush with tomatoes!
That said, tomatoes can vary widely in flavor and quality. The key to a tasty result is ensuring that there’s enough sugar to take the tangy edge off of less sweet tomatoes and enough salt to flavor the tofu, so be sure to taste it before serving and season it to your liking.
Note:
While sugar is a key ingredient in this dish, the amount you need hinges on your tomatoes. Tomatoes vary in acidity and sweetness, depending on the variety and growing season. Taste your tomatoes as they cook, and add a little extra or hold back per your tastes! If you’re using ripe summer tomatoes, you may need less sugar!
Tomato Tofu Recipe Instructions
Heat your non-reactive stainless steel wok or skillet over high heat, and add the neutral oil along with the white parts of the scallions. After about 15 seconds, add the tomatoes.
Stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the pan.
Add the water (or stock), sugar, salt, vegetarian oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute, until the tomatoes begin to wilt.
While that’s happening, make the cornstarch slurry. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the sauce, allowing it to thicken for a few seconds.
Then add the tofu. Mix a few times, partially submerging the tofu in the sauce. Take care not to break it up too much.
Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 2 minutes, until the tomatoes are completely softened and the sauce has thickened. (If it’s still too wet, add more cornstarch slurry to reach your desired consistency.)
Uncover, and stir in the scallions.
Add salt to taste, adjust the amount of sugar if needed, and serve with jasmine rice. (Or quinoa rice!)
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Recipe
Tomato Tofu
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil (such as vegetable, canola, or avocado oil)
- 1 scallion (white and green parts separated, cut on an angle into 2-inch/5cm pieces)
- 1 ½ pounds ripe tomatoes (cut into wedges; 1½ pounds/680g = about 4-5 medium tomatoes)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- ½ cup water (or mushroom, vegetable, or chicken stock)
- 1 tablespoon sugar (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce (or regular oyster sauce if you’re not vegan/vegetarian)
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch (mixed into a slurry with 2 tablespoons water)
- 16 ounces soft tofu (cut into ¾-inch/2cm thick square slices; soft tofu holds up better than silken, but you can use silken tofu if that’s all you can find)
Instructions
- Heat your non-reactive stainless steel wok or skillet over high heat, and add the neutral oil along with the white parts of the scallions. After about 15 seconds, add the tomatoes. Stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the pan.
- Add the water (or stock), sugar, salt, vegetarian oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute, until the tomatoes begin to wilt.
- While that’s happening, make the cornstarch slurry. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the sauce, allowing it to thicken for a few seconds. Then add the tofu. Mix a few times, partially submerging the tofu in the sauce. Take care not to break it up too much.
- Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 2 minutes, until the tomatoes are completely softened and the sauce has thickened. (If it’s still too wet, add more cornstarch slurry to reach your desired consistency.)
- Uncover, and stir in the scallions. Add salt to taste, adjust the amount of sugar if needed, and serve with jasmine rice. (Or quinoa rice!)
