Stuffed Fried Tofu (油揚げの肉詰め)

Stuffed Fried Tofu is very useful. Not only for every day’s main dish but for bento menu. It goes well with beer. Cooking time is 30 mins.
Ingredients
(4 servings)
- 4 sheets of fried tofu
- 200 g of minced meat (pork or chicken)
- 50 g of carrot
- 10 cm of green onion
- 10 g of Oba (Japanese basil, otherwise basil)
- (A) 200 mL of Dashi Broth
- (A) 2 tbsp of soy sauce
- (A) 2 tbsp of cooking Sake
- (A) 1 tbsp of sugar
- 8 toothpicks (or snap a spaghetti noodle to approximately 8 cm long and make 8 sticks.): You don’t have to remove sticks when you use spaghetti noodle sticks.)
- Oba (otherwise basil, for topping)
- Roasted sesame (for topping)
Instructions
- Chop the carrot, the green onion, and the Oba into small pieces.
- Cut the fried tofu into halves.
- Knead the minced meat until it becomes sticky. Then add chopped ingredients to the meat and mix them.
- Open the fried tofu pockets carefully, and stuff fillings into the fried tofu.
- Stick the toothpick or the spaghetti stick into the stuffed fried tofu to close.
- Put condiments (A) in a pan and heat it until it comes to a boil.
- Place the stuffed tofu and simmer it over medium-low heat over 10 minutes.
- Cut the Oba into thin strips.
- When it is cooked, leave the pan for a while. Cut it in half and serve on a plate. Sprinkle the roasted sesame and the Oba.