Vietnamese (French Inspired) Stuffed Tomatoes

Submitted by Nyx9013

"This is a recipe that my friend obsessed on years ago, when we were in college. It's not bad with some good old steamed white rice. I sometimes paired it with salad instead of rice. My friend was heavy on the salt because that's the way her mother cooked, but I am less of a salt freak so it is up to you. If you google Vietnamese stuffed tomatoes, there are many variations of this recipe. This is what worked for me. I seldom make this anymore, but if I did again, I would probably try using ground turkey instead of pork - it should come out okay. Remember to pack the tomatoes tightly, as the meat will slip out while cooking if it is loosely packed into the tomato "cups""

 

• Ready In: 1hr 20mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Yields: 8 tomato halves
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 4 large ripe tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, ground
• cilantro (garnish)
• 7 ounces ground pork
• 2 large dried shiitake mushrooms (optional)
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1⁄2 tablespoon sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1⁄2 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1⁄2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1⁄2 tablespoon sugar

directions

1. Slice off about 1/2" tomato top and scoop the seeds inside.
2. Reserve pulp for sauce in a small bowl, set aside.
3. Dry each side of tomato "cup" gently until dry with a paper towel.
4. Fill each cup with the filling ingredients (pork, shiitake mushrooms, 2 TB fish sauce, sugar, ground pepper, shallots and scallion), making sure they are tightly packed in tomato.
5. Over medium high heat, add olive oil to cover bottom of saute pan.
6. When oil is hot, place tomatoes with the meat facing down
7. Cook until surface of meat is nice and golden, or approximately 10-15 minutes.
8. Transfer all tomatoes to roasting pan and bake for 40 minutes.
9. SAUCE PREPARATION: Add the reserved tomato pulp to small saucepan and bring it to a boil.
10. Simmer uncovered about 5-10 minutes and remove from heat.
11. Mix with water, fish sauce, oyster sauce and sugar then add it to your tomatoes.
12. Serve over steamed rice and voila, you're done. =).