Savory, tangy and tender – These Vietnamese plush tomatoes strike each note

ahsan65@gmail.comJune 25, 2025

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Savory, tangy and tender – These Vietnamese plush tomatoes strike each note

My parents instilled me for love for tomatoes from an early age. Their garden in southern Vietnam, with its moderate climate, has always overflowed with fruits and vegetables. When the tomatoes ripen, I helped picking them for two of my favorite dishes: a refreshing treat of broken tomatoes with sugar and ice to relieve heat and humidity, and that is Chua NHồi Thịt-Failed tomatoes bathed in a soft-siege-and-failed tomato sauce.

In Vietnamese, it means tomato, nhồi means drunk and what refers to meat. Cà Chua Nhồi Thịt is a basic food at home, often used for lunch or dinner as part of a larger family meal that frequently includes a salty dish, a vegetable, a soup and rice.

Origins of Vietnamese plush tomatoes

Although the dish has become distinctly Vietnamese, its roots can be attributed to French colonial influences, in particular to the pranks of tomatoes (or stuffed) from Provence, where the vegetables are stuffed with seasoned meat and baked until they are tender. In French, stuffed is translated by Bourré.

In an old French kitchen book that my mother has, the stuffed tomatoes are filled with chopped pork, breadcrumbs soaked in milk, eggs, alliums and herbs and baked. The sauce is prepared separately on the stove and watered on the tomatoes once cooked. In Vietnam, where the ovens were not common in many households, the cooks developed two practical cook approaches: steam of stuffed tomatoes or curling them. I prefer to be worse for the deeper and more concentrated flavor than it offers.

Compared to tomato pranks, it is chua nhồi thịt are simpler and adaptable, and they often have a shorter list of ingredients. While each family has its own variation, most use chopped pork mixed with shallots, garlic and green onions, seasoned with sugar, pepper and sometimes fish sauce or msg. The fillings may include wooden ear mushrooms, bean thread noodles or chopped shrimp. The breadcrumbs, eggs and dairy products are generally left out.

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About filling

For the best texture and the best flavor, use ground pork with 10 to 20% fat, just enough to keep the juicy garnish without making it fat. The shallots and garlic should be finely chopped to cook quickly and evenly. I also like to include rehydrated wooden ear mushrooms for their soft crunch and earthy flavor. Although the pork is traditional, the recipe is flexible: ground chicken, beef or even a little shrimp can be folded in the mixture, depending on what you have in hand.

Choose the right tomatoes

Tomatoes play the main role in this recipe, so choosing the right type is the key. Look for ripe but firm and round diameter tomatoes of about 2,10/2 inches. Uniform size helps them uniformly cooking. Avoid oblong or irregular inheritances, which can collapse or cook unevenly. Over the years, I have used a range of my local varieties, including Cherokee Purple, Ozark Pink and Berkeley Tie-Dye with excellent results.

Technique counts

Once the garnish is mixed and briefly rested to allow the flavors to mingle, the tomatoes are divided in two and hollow. While some recipes call to flour the tomatoes or empty them upside down to reduce humidity, I prefer a simpler method: erase cavities with paper towels. The reserved tomato pulp is chopped and added to the sauce later. It is essential to collect enough pork mixture in each tomato to fill the cavity – about an ounce each, which is sure to press it in the crevices gently, but avoid surpassing the tomatoes. Sub-filing of the tomatoes can make them collapse, while exceeding them can burst them during cooking.

The entry is what distinguishes this version from many Cà Chua Nhồi Thịt. The cooking of stuffed tomatoes over high heat creates a deeply golden and tasty crust, thanks to Maillard’s reaction, which occurs when proteins and sugar interact over high heat. The input also locks humidity. After seizing, stuffed tomatoes are slowly simmered in a quick tomato sauce until the tomatoes are tender but remain intact and the pork is fully cooked. A final net of the reduced sauce and a pinch of coriander (or green onions, if you prefer) gather everything.

A lasting dish

When it is well done, it is Chua Nhồi Thịt is a perfect balance of tender tomato, salty pork and a sweet tomato-tangy sauce which soaks beautifully in hot jasmine rice. I love to collect the tasty rice and pork furnished with pepper alliums and crunchy pieces of wooden ear mushrooms soaked with sauce. It is perhaps not flashy or worthy of Instagram, but it is a dish that has endured for generations – a humble comforting deeply satisfactory family transmitted from the family to the family.

Savory, tangy and tender – These Vietnamese plush tomatoes strike each note

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10 ounces (284 g)) ground pork10-20% fat
18 g (1 tablespoon) dehydrated Wooden mushrooms
2 little green onions (16 g)) finely trenched green parts (about 1/4 cup))
1 AVERAGE shallot (21 g), finely chopped (by the way 2 tablespoons chopped), divided
4 pods (20 g)) garlic, choppedsplit
1 1/2 teaspoon Crystal Diamond Salt Cashersplit; For table salt, use half as much in volume
1 tablespoon more 1 teaspoon sugarsplit
1/2 teaspoon freshly black pepperMore for the garnish
7 mature but firm AVERAGE tomatoes (about 4 ounces per tomato, about 2.5 inches in diameter each), see the notes
3 tablespoons (45 ml)) neutral oil like vegetable oilsplit
2 tablespoons (30 ml)) fish sauceSee notes
1 tablespoon chopped coriander for service
Steam white jasmine rice for service

On an average plate lined with paper towels, fix the ground pork to absorb excess humidity for 5 to 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, dip the wooden mushrooms in hot water until it softens, 10 minutes. Drain and extract excess water from mushrooms. Chop the mushrooms in small pieces. (You should have about 2 tablespoons of chopped mushrooms.)

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In a large bowl, mix the pork, the chopped mushrooms, the green onions, 1 tablespoon of shallot, half of the garlic, salt, 1 teaspoon and freshly ground pepper. Mix well with the spoon or hands and set aside for 30 minutes.

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While the meat mixture is located, with a sharp knife, cut 6 tomatoes in half half crossed. Use a small metal spoon to gently remove the pulp, the seeds and the juice in a bowl. Chop the pulp and stay 1 tomato and add to the bowl with seeds and juice. Inside dry halves of tomatoes now empty with paper towels.

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Use a small metal spoon to collect the pork mixture in the tomato halves and press firmly, making sure to fill in the crevices.

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In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 1/2 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat until you sparkle. Add the tomatoes, the meat downwards and grab, without moving, until the meat forms a golden brown crust, about 5 minutes. Using a thin spatula, carefully remove the tomatoes from the pan and transfer to a large plate, on the meat side up.

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Fire lower than medium. Add the rest of 1 1/2 1/2 tablespoon of oil and the shallot remaining in the pan and cook until it is softened, about 1 minute. Add the remaining garlic and cook until it is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato pulp, 1/2 cup of water, fish sauce and 1 tablespoon of sugar and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, about 3 minutes.

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Return the heat to medium-low, add the tomatoes to the pan, on the meat side. Simmer partially covered, spoon of the sauce occasionally on the tomatoes with a metal spoon, until the pork garnish is cooked and records at least 140 ℉ (60 ℃), 8 to 14 minutes. The tomatoes must be soft but maintain their shape. Use a thin spatula to carefully transfer the tomatoes cooked in a service tray.

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Increase the heat to medium and cook the sauce until it is shiny and slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Spoon of the sauce on the tomatoes. Garnish with coriander and freshly ground pepper and serve with jasmine rice.

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