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Meat Tofu Air fried Crispy pork belly Lunch / Dinner Main Courses

Lechon con tokwa

Published: 03.26.2022 ยป Last updated: 02.07.2023

Air fried pork belly and deep fried tofu are tossed in sweet sour sauce with toban-djan (Chinese fermented broad bean chili bean paste) in this Chinese Filipino dish.

Lechon con tokwa (crispy pork belly and tofu in spicy sweet sour sauce)

Inspired by our favorite dish at Boy Ching Woo, one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in the Philippines. It was within walking distance of the house where I grew up. I didn’t realize how much I missed lechon con tokwa until I moved with my own family to the suburb. That was when I started deconstructing the dish to come up with my version.

What makes the dish so memorable? I assure you it isn’t just nostalgia. I am not that kind of person. I ate plenty of bad food as a child and I don’t yearn for them. I have exerted a lot effort to recreate this dish because it is beyond good. A sticky sauce that’s sweet, sour and a bit spicy coats the crispy pork belly and deep fried tofu. But flavor is not everything in this dish. It’s the texture that really captures the imagination.

Does the pork skin stay crisp after being tossed in the sauce? Yes, if you serve the dish immediately. But if you allow the pork to simmer in the sauce, even as the skin loses its wonderful crispness, you get something else in return. The puffy skin turns chewy in an indescribable way. That was how the dish was served at Boy Ching Woo.

Here at home, however, with my husband’s obsession with crispy pork skin, I toss the crispy pork belly cubes in the sauce just long enough to coat them. Then, I serve the dish as soon as it’s off the stove.

It’s not a complicated dish to prepare at home. But because there are several components, you have to plan and time everything so that the pork skin is still at its prime by the time the meat is tossed into the sauce.

Start by cooking the pork because that’s the part that takes the longest. Simmer a slab of pork belly in heavily seasoned water until the meat is so tender it easily separates from the bone. Then, air fry the pork belly until the skin is puffed and crispy.

Crispy pork belly cooked in air fryer

While the crispy pork belly rests to allow the juices to settle, prepare the rest of the components for the dish.

Deep frying tofu / Chinese chili bean sauce

Cut a cake of firm tofu into thick slices, deep fry then cut into cubes. Make the sauce by mixing soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, toban-dyan and water with tapioca starch.

Sauteeing shallots, ginger and garlic before adding cubed fried tofu

Saute sliced shallots, garlic and ginger until softened and aromatic then add the tofu cubes and toss until heated through.

Pouring chili bean sauce over tofu in pan before adding cubed crispy pork belly

Pour in the sauce and stir until thick and no longer cloudy. While the tofu soaks in the sauce to absorb the flavors, cut the the pork belly into cubes then toss into the simmering sauce.

Lechon con tokwa

Connie Veneracion
The best way to enjoy your lechon con tokwa is to serve it with rice. Drizzle some of the lovely sauce on your rice for twice the happiness.
The prep and cook time indicated below does not include cooking the pork. See my stand-alone recipe for air fried crispy pork belly.
Air fried crispy pork belly and deep fried tofu in chili bean sauce
Print Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Total Time 20 minutes mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese Filipino
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cake firm tofu - about 300 grams in weight
  • cooking oil - for deep frying
  • 2 shallots - peeled and thinly sliced
  • 4 cloves garlic - peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 one-inch knob ginger - peeled and grated
  • 2 teaspoons toban-dyan - (available in Asian groceries)
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
  • crispy pork belly - (one kilogram in weight before cooking) cut into two-inch cubes

Instructions
 

  • Press the tofu between stacks of paper towels to remove excess moisture.
  • Cut the tofu into slices about an inch thick.
  • Heat enough cooking oil in a frying pan to reach a depth of two inches.
  • Deep fry the tofu slices until golden and crisp.
  • Cut the fried tofu into cubes.
  • Pour off the oil from the pan leaving only about two tablespoonfuls.
  • Saute the shallots, garlic and ginger until softened and aromatic.
  • Add the tofu cubes and cook, tossing, until heated through.
  • Into one cup of water, stir in the toban-dyan, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and starch.
  • Pour the sauce into the pan and cook, stirring, until thick and no longer cloudy.
  • Add the crispy pork belly and toss a few times until each piece is coated with sauce.
  • Serve your lechon con tokwa immediately.
Print Pin Recipe
Keyword Crispy pork belly, Tofu

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Connie Veneracion, Chiang Mai, 2020

Hi, I’m Connie!

Welcome to Umami Days, a blog that advocates innovative home cooking for pleasurable everyday dining. No trendy diets, no food fads and definitely no ludicrous recipe names like crustless quiche, noodleless pho or chocolate lasagna.

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