🇨🇳 ChinaCatalog recipe
Pan-seared tofu slabs braised with mushroom, bell pepper and garlic in a savory brown sauce until the edges turn deep gold and slightly chewy.
For 4 servings.
No reviews yet
Cooked this? Be the first to tell everyone how it went.
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
Sign in to suggest corrections and improvements.
Community posts are opinions, not professional advice. Community guidelines
Videos belong to their creators and play on their platform’s terms — Cibora never re-hosts third-party video.
Buy these ingredients
Links open each store’s own site, where you see their live local prices. Our cost figures in the app are estimates only.
Press the tofu slabs between paper towels for 10 minutes to push out excess water.
💡 Dry tofu sears; wet tofu steams. Don't skip the press.
Heat half the oil in a wok over medium-high and fry the tofu slabs until golden and crisp on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Remove to a plate.
Add the remaining oil, then the mushroom and bell pepper, and stir-fry 3 minutes until softened.
Push the vegetables aside, add the garlic and ginger to the cleared space, and stir 20 seconds until fragrant.
Stir in the hoisin sauce, soy sauce and stock and bring to a simmer.
Slide the tofu back in, spoon the sauce over, and simmer gently 3 minutes so the slabs soak up flavor without breaking apart.
Stir in the cornstarch slurry and toss gently until the sauce thickens and clings. Scatter with spring onion and serve over rice.
Jia chang doufu translates to 'home-style tofu,' a name that says exactly what it is — not a banquet dish but the kind of thing a family cooks on an ordinary night with whatever vegetables are on hand. Pan-frying the tofu first, rather than leaving it soft, is what separates it from softer braises like mapo tofu: the seared edges hold their shape and soak up the sauce instead of dissolving into it. Versions of it sit on nearly every neighborhood restaurant menu in China precisely because it is so easy to make well.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading is open to everyone.
Nothing here yet — questions about technique, timing, and substitutions all welcome.
No suggestions yet. Spotted a wrong quantity, a missing step, or a better technique? Suggest it — accepted changes join the recipe’s version history.