Japanese Tofu with Spicy Pork and Egg Budget AU$15

 When the theme for this month's S$20 (or AUS$15) budget meals was announced to be Tofu, I got excited. Afterall, it is a humble ingredient that can be prepared in so many ways.

My favourite tofu, would be the silken egg tofu. The one that comes in a tube. I love to coat it with some cornflour and pan fry it, creating a slight crisp coating on the outside, but soft silky tofu on the inside. I fried up some mince, made an omelette and added the pre prepared tofu on the top.

While it looks messy, it is one of our favourite easy dish to have. The combine texture of crisp, soft, eggy..etc just makes it worthwhile.

I made ribs and lotus soup ( I realised I forgot to purchase some peanuts if not I would have added it there!) to pair with this dish. By boiling it in the morning before we head to work and placing it in the magic cooker, we were delighted to have a hot soup ready for us to drink when we got home in cold weather. A quick and simple bak choy stir fry was also made.

The Pork Ribs and Lotus soup was a bargain- Only $2.60 to make. We picked up some cheap pork bones which happened to be ribs for $3 for a big packet. We divided the packet into threes- So more soups for us! Lotus root was frozen though-nevertheless, it was $2.50 for a big packet (60cents). Enough to for at least another 2-3 meals. I added some dried scallops that was in my freezer which I estimated it to be around $1.

Bak Choy was $1 a bunch

Japanese Tofu with Spicy Pork and Egg was a little more pricey- around $7. On hindsight, probably one tube of tofu was enough but I got too carried away! So total cost of meal = AU$10.60. Not bad for a complete meal for 4.

Japanese Tofu with Spicy Pork and Egg (Serves 4-5)
2 tubes of Japanese Tofu
1 cup of corn flour
oil
200 grams pork mince
1/2 cup of hua tiao jiu
3 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 chili padi chopped
5 eggs
3 tablespoon of milk or soy milk

Slice tofu, coat it with corn flour lightly, shaking excess flour out. Fry tofu in hot pan with some oil. Turn after 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan and place tofu in plate lined with paper towels. Set aside.

Meanwhile, sauté chili padi with pork mince. Add the hua tiao jiu and soy sauce. Cook till mince is done.

Beat eggs with some milk. Pour eggs into pan. Cook till nearly set. Place tofu on the top of the omelette. Serve warm.

Hosted by Ellana from Cusine Paradise, this is my entry to Budget Meals.