Umami Tofu Stir-Fry with French Fries, a beefy Viet favorite goes vegan
yes, we eat this with rice but you don't have to
Hello everyone,
The Sunday Special has arrived early this week because I’m tied up tomorrow with teaching class! So looking forward to making a mess of dumplings with folks who’ve signed up for the DIY Dumpling Fest. If you want to jump in for last minute dumpling fun, grab a ticket. (Save 20% with this code, if you’re a paid PTFSr).
How do you handle compliments? I dish them out easily but I don’t always accept them with grace. I often brush them off only to later regret that I didn’t acknowledge and thank the complimenter for their generosity.
Today, I’m thanking PTFS community member Lợi. She recently emailed about how to negotiate the paid subscriber forever discount (learn more here).
In our conversation, Lợi wrote:
Your first book is actually a masterpiece of Vietnamese cuisine being presented or introduced to the western world. I had many other Vietnamese cookbooks written by various Vietnamese authors from Vietnam after we came here to the US, but the instructions and ingredients therein sometimes were so vague, and so confusing to me.
That first book, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, was my homage to my heritage and the evolving history that defines Viet cooking worldwide. I didn’t (and still don’t) fully realize how much it meant to folks. Published in 2006, it was not chock full of photos like cookbooks are today so part me feels like the book is dated.
But not having a bunch of photos meant I could squeeze in 175 recipes plus lots of detailed instructions and stories. I leafed through Into the Vietnamese Kitchen recently and thought back on the many long days that went into that book. I didn’t think I’d get to write another cookbook and assumed it was my only shot to present Vietnamese food in English.
When I came across the Stir-Fried Beef with Crispy Fried Potatoes (page 140 to 141), I laughed. It’s a childhood favorite. My mom made it often enough to entrust me to make French fries from scratch for our family. I was around 12 or 13 at the time.
For the book, I dialed in the double fry technique, practicing it many times to get the instructions down. But I hadn’t fried fries from scratch in years. Two decades after writing Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, I’m cooking and eating differently. I take shortcuts here and there. I eat less meat and think about fiber and vegetables. That said, I still want the same level of culinary satisfaction without diminishing flavor or the essence of the dish. Many of you are with me on this.
So, how would I write a stir-fried beef with crispy fried potatoes recipe today? How would I fit it into my current lifestyle? What kind of 2025 compromises, if any, would there be?
That’s what you have here — Stir-Fried Tofu with French Fries (Đậu Hũ Xào Khoai Tây Chiên), a healthy-ish, easier take on its traditional beefy kin called thịt bò xào khoai tây chiên. This new version happens to be vegan and remarkably good because I came up with a new way to season tofu with umami pow. 💥
So thank you Lợi for presenting me with such a wonderful compliment on my earlier work. You opened the door for me to revisit that collection of recipes with new eyes!
How do you eat the dish? Eat it with rice, like Viet people do, or just pair it with a salad dressed with quick nuoc cham vinaigrette, simple stir-fry vegetable like the Sichuan cabbage, or steam-sauteed greens.
Here’s a quick video summary of how the dish goes down:
Below you’ll find my:
Guide to choosing frozen fries for this recipe + tips for tweaking the stir-fry to match your favorite fries
Pointers for tofu selection and prepping
Tofu cooking video tip
Detailed recipe in text and a downloadable PDF
Bonus ideas for ingredient swaps and scaling up the recipe, which serves 2 hungry people!