Pork and Tofu Stir-Fry (豆干炒肉絲)

5 from 6 votes

Pork and Tofu Stir-Fry (豆干炒肉絲)

This pork and tofu stir fry is a popular Taiwanese classic because it's simple and easy, yet delicious and satisfying. Perfect for a weeknight dinner!

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Total Time20

Course: Main

Cuisine: Chinese, Taiwanese

Servings: servings

Calories: 162kcal

Author: Edwina

Ingredients

½ lb pork loin or another cut of your choice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 pinch Chinese five-spice powder
½ teaspoon corn starch
2 teaspoon sesame oil
6-8 tofu (dougan) see note
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 stalk scallion
2 clove garlic minced
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine (michiu)
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce optional, manily for color
⅛ teaspoon white pepper powder
oyster sauce 1 tsp
salt

Instructions

Prepare pork

Slice pork loin into ⅓ inch thick before cutting it into ⅓ inch wide matchsticks.
In a bowl, toss the pork with soy sauce, Chinese five-spice powder and corn starch together and finally mix in sesame oil. Cover the pork and set it aside.

Prepare tofu

Boil tofu in salted water for around 2 minutes and then take it out to cool down until it's cold enough to handle.
Carefully slice each tofu in half horizontally from the side before slicing vertically into matchsticks.
Cut scallions into 4 sections and slice the white part into halves lengthwise, so that the flavor can be released faster when cooking.

Cook

Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add tofu, garlic, and the white and light green parts of the scallion into the pan, cook until tofu starts to brown, about 3 minutes.
Push tofu and scallion to the side and add pork into the pan. Cook and stir until the pork starts to turn white before mixing everything together.
Add cooking wine, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce (if using), white pepper powder and the remaining green part of scallion into the pan, stir and cook for 30 seconds before adding ⅓ cup of water and a pinch of salt.
Stir and cook until the liquid almost dries up then taste to see if it needs more salt.
When it's done cooking, remove the pan from the heat and serve warm with rice.

Notes

For this recipe we need a kind of very firm tofu called 豆干 (dougan) in Chinese. You can usually find it in your local Asian grocery store. Try to buy one that's not too hard and rubbery. My favorite one is this brand, which is tender and aromatic.
It's easier to cut the pork when it's half frozen. If the pork is not frozen, put it in the freezer for 30 minutes before cutting.
Pre-cooking the tofu in salted water makes the tofu a bit more tender and won't break easily while cooking.
Feel free to adjust the ratio of pork and tofu based on your preference.
Adding water at the end helps the flavors to blend together and ensures that the flavor gets into the tofu, so don't skip it!

Nutrition