Garlic Roasted Pork and Tofu Clay Pot 蒜子火腩豆腐煲 is a traditional Cantonese dish that has quite a few popular variations. This dish can be made with just deep-fried tofu and shiitake mushrooms. Adding deep-fried cod or oysters is also very common. Various vegetables can also be added…such as baby corn, black fungus, taro, potatoes, mushrooms, chestnuts, wheat gluten (seitan), plus endless possibilities.
My Garlic Roasted Pork and Tofu Clay Pot 蒜子火腩豆腐煲 recipe will give you the basic ingredients that you can build on. This is a common dish in a lot of Cantonese restaurants because it can make use of roasted pork that didn’t sell out during lunchtime. Sometimes when I buy too much roasted pork or maybe it was too salty or overcooked, I’ll make this dish with it. The roasted pork gives it a subtle 5 spice powder flavour. After braising, the roasted pork can become more tender and absorb the flavours in the sauce better. But don’t over-braise it as the meat can absorb too much of the sauce and will lose its appeal.
The ingredients in this dish really go well together and they all happily contribute to the delicious sauce that will cause you to eat probably more rice than you expected. This is why I also like to add wheat gluten (seitan) or miàn jīn 麵筋. The wheat gluten can absorb sauce like a sponge. I didn’t add it to my recipe because it’s not as common, but I love it in this dish!
Although the meats in this dish play a big role, I think the garlic really is the star of the show. The deep-fried garlic pieces are soft and sweet; they’re my favorite part of the dish. You can leave them whole so that whoever doesn’t like garlic can pass them to someone who does. For the garlic lovers, you may want to use 2 whole bulbs of garlic instead of one.
If you ever have leftover roasted pork, give this Garlic Roasted Pork and Tofu Clay Pot 蒜子火腩豆腐煲 a try. Leftovers never tasted so good!
Looking for more dinner ideas? The Steamed Winter Melon with Pork 瑤柱豬肉片釀冬瓜 is one of my favorites!
Garlic Roasted Pork and Tofu Clay Pot 蒜子火腩豆腐煲
Ingredients
- 450 g Roasted Pork (Siu yuk)
- 2 Chinese preserved sausage
- 160 g Tofu puffs (Deep fried tofu)
- 6 Shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dried)
- 200 g Lettuce
- 1 bulb Garlic , peeled whole cloves
- 1 Small onion
- 6 slices Ginger
- 2 stalks Green onions
- 2 tbsp Oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch
- 2 tbsp Water
- 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 2 c Water
- 1 L Oil for deep-frying garlic and BBQ pork
*Optional - 2 tbsp Oil
Instructions
- On night before, soak 6 shiitake mushrooms if using dried ones
- Peel garlic cloves
- Heat 1L oil to 150˚C or 300˚F
Instead of deep-frying the garlic and roasted pork, you can also choose to pan-fry - Deep-fry garlic until golden. Remove from oil and set aside
- Heat oil to 190˚C or 375˚F. Add roasted pork. Deep fry for 2 minutes or until golden. Remove from oil and set aside
- Slice one small onion; prepare 6 slices ginger; slice shiitake mushrooms in half (using a slanted cut will help even out the thickness); slice preserved sausages; and cut green onions to 5cm pieces. Set aside
- In a pot, using medium-high heat, add 2 tbsp oil, add ginger and fry until golden
I usually use a ceramic coated pot for this process and I use a clay pot at the end because I want to add lettuce on the bottom of the clay pot. - Add onions and preserved sausages. Fry for 1 minute
- Add shiitake mushrooms. Fry for 1 minute
- Add roasted pork, fried garlic, tofu puffs and 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine. Stir-fry for 1 minute
- Turn heat to medium and add 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar and the white parts of the green onions. Turn heat back up to high. Stir-fry 1 minute
- Add 2 cups water or until the water level covers 70% of the ingredients. Bring to a boil
Some recipes call for enough water to cover all the ingredients, but that would make it too soupy - Reduce heat to low. Cover with lid. Cook for 30 minutes. Stir after 15 minutes
- In a small bowl, prepare 1 tbsp cornstarch and 2 tbsp water. Mix well and set aside
- Five minutes before the garlic, roasted pork and tofu are done, mix slurry and pour the slurry slowly into the pot. Stir gently. Turn off heat after sauce has thickened. Add green onions. If the sauce is not thick enough, make more slurry and add it in
- Add 1 tbsp oil into a clay pot (a second pot), heat at medium-high heat. Add lettuce and stir-fry until slightly softened. Takes approx. 30 seconds
You may also use the same pot by shifting the contents to one side, add the lettuce and shift the contents onto the lettuce so that the lettuce is on the bottom - Pour the garlic roasted pork and tofu on top of the lettuce, do not stir. Cover with lid. Turn off heat and let it sit for 5 minutes
- Serve
Do you not put the garlic back in after frying it?
Hi Dennis, so sorry! It goes back in when you add the roast pork. If you'd like to keep it more firm, then add it in at the end with the green onions. I've updated the instructions. Thank you for so much for letting me know!
Ok thanks. Btw, the recipe says 1 L of oil but the instructions say 125 mL of oil. Looking at the pictures it looks to be somewhere in between. I plan on cooking this recipe for my gf's parents I think. Such a classic dish.
Hi Dennis! Sorry again! I'm always a bit worried as to how much oil I list for deep-frying. I don't want to scare people by using too much, so I was going to use 125ml oil for shallow frying, but then the roasted pork's skin got a bit tough, so I added more oil to do actual deep-frying. Which is why in the ingredients list, I wrote 1L. But then I forgot to change my original amount! Basically, if you have a small pot, and fry the pork in 2-3 batches, you can probably use around 500ml-600ml of oil. Awww, so nice that you're cooking for them! I hope it all turns out well!
This recipe is amazing and the dish is one of the best things I've made in a long long time. Hope more people find the site cause I can just tell the quality in the recipes you have.
Hi Dennis! I'm sooo happy that your dish was successful! I bet your gf's parents were impressed! Thank you for taking the time to comment. Your words of encouragement really means a lot to me. I hope to make more delicious recipes to share with everyone! Happy cooking!
Trying this now, you forgot to write when to put in the white part of the spring onions. But it was in the photo 😊
Hi Nikki, sorry about that! I just updated the instructions. Thanks for pointing it out! Hope your dish turns out well!
Love your recipe. However , I made it different. I dry fried the roasted pork to extract the oil. Next add the whole garlic and sliced ginger then whole Chili and mushroom. Meanwhile, the tofu Bok is being airfried. Add them and mixed well. Add fish sauce and fish stock then the starch to thicken. Off the Fire and add the veggies and green onion.
Hi Jyanzi, sorry for the very late reply! Sounds like this isn't your first rodeo! Very good call on all the add-ons! Thank you for trying my recipe. I've been very pre-occupied with my son's activities lately and haven't done any new recipes in a while. But I'm definitely going to get back into things in the next few months. Hope you get a chance to try more of my recipes. Happy cooking!