My Tofu Hamburger Steak is made with a mixture of mince (ground meat) and tofu. It is not a vegetarian tofu patty, but it certainly has less calories than the meaty Hamburger steak! See the video.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 300g/10.6oz momen tofu/firm tofu (note 1)
- 150g/5.3oz pork mince (note 2)
- 150g/5.3oz beef mince (note 2)
- 100g/3.5oz onion finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp oil
- 200g/7.1oz tomato passata
- 3 tbsp cream
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tsp soup stock powder/cube
-
Put chopped onion in a microwave-safe bowl and loosely cover the bowl with cling wrap.
-
Microwave the onion for 1½ minutes at 600W.
-
Remove the cling wrap and let it cool.
-
Wrap the tofu block completely using 3 pieces of kitchen paper (preferably connected) and place it on a microwave-safe plate. Place a microwave-safe flat plate on top of the wrapped tofu.
-
Microwave the tofu for 3 minutes at 600W.
-
Remove the kitchen paper, place the tofu back on the plate, then place a small flat plate or drop lid (no holes) on the tofu (note 3).
-
Hold the bottom of the plate and the top plate/drop lid with both hands and put pressure on the plate/drop lid on top.
-
Tilt the plate while pressuring the top and squeeze the water out of the tofu as much as you can. The goal is to reduce the weight of the tofu by about 25-30% of the original weight, i.e., 300g/10.6oz tofu becomes 210-225g/7.4-7.9oz.
-
Put pork and beef mince, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Mix well, flattening the minced meat pieces so that the mince mixture becomes pasty and sticky (See the video).
-
Add tofu into the bowl, break it in your hand into small pieces, and mix well. As you mix the meat and tofu, target the large tofu pieces and break them into small pieces. Tofu pieces should be no more than 5mm cubes, preferably smaller.
-
Add onion to the bowl and mix well. Add egg and mix well ensuring that all ingredients are evenly mixed.
-
Divide the mince into 4 equal portions (note 4).
-
Taking one portion at a time, make a ball in your hands.
-
Throw the mince ball from one hand to the other, like baseball players do. Do it a few times so that the air inside the mince mixture is removed.
-
Then, turn the ball into a flat oval shape of about 2.5cm/1" thick.
-
Put oil in a large frying pan and heat over medium heat.
-
Place 4 patties in the pan, and gently press the centre of each patty down so that the centre of the patty becomes slightly thinner than the outer part of the oval. This is because the centre bulges up when cooked.
-
Cook for a couple of minutes until the bottom of the patty browns nicely.
-
Flip the patties over, reduce the heat to medium low to low and place a lid on.
-
Cook for 4-5 minutes until the Tofu Hamburger Steak is cooked through (note 5). Turn the heat off.
-
Transfer each Tofu Hamburger Steak to a serving plate and pour the Tomato Flavoured Sauce over it (note 6).
-
Serve immediately.
-
Put all the Tomato Flavoured Sauce ingredients in a pot and bring it to a boil, stirring from time to time.
-
Reduce the heat and cook for a minutes or so to thicken the sauce, stirring continuously.
-
Remove the pot from the heat.
1. You could use hard tofu without dehydrating it, since hard tofu contains less water and you only need about 200-220g/7.1-7.8oz. But I find that the Hamburger steak is firmer than those made with momen tofu.
Silken tofu and Extra firm tofu are not suited for this recipe.
2. Supermarkets sometimes sell beef and pork mince mixed in a pack. If you are using beef and pork mince, use 300g in place of 150g pork mince and 150g beef mince.
3. I have a wooden traditional drop lid that was perfect for this (see the video and step-by-step photo). You could use the plastic lid of an airtight container, or the bottom of a spring form cake pan. As long as you can press down the tofu effectively, you can use anything.
4. If you are happy with a slightly uneven size of Tofu Hamburger Steaks, draw a cross on the levelled mince mixture in the bowl and take each portion (like how I did in the video).
To make 4 Hamburger Steaks with identical weight:
i) Weigh the mixing bowl before putting the ingredients in, then weigh the bowl with the patty mixture.
ii) Subtract the weight of the empty bowl from the weight with the mixture to work out the total weight of the patty mixture.
iii) Divide the total weight by 4, which gives you the weight of one patty.
iv) Weigh each portion to make 4 equal-sized Hamburger Steaks. I place the bowl with the patty mixture on the scale, reset to zero. When you take one portion, the scale gives you a negative weight of the portion.
5. When you poke a bamboo skewer into the centre of the Hamburger Steak, clear juice comes out if the meat is cooked through. If it is not cooked, the juice will be reddish.
Alternatively, you can press down the centre of the oval to see if you can feel the firmness inside. The centre of an uncooked Hamburger Steak is soft. However, this is a bit of a tricky method to judge if the patty is cooked or not because today’s patty is very soft due to the tofu in the mixture, even if it is completely cooked through.
6. Other sauces that go well with Tofu Hamburger Steak include Demi-Glace, Tonkatsu Sauce, and Ponzu with grated daikon. See the sample photo in the post.
7. Tofu Hamburger Steak keeps for a couple of days in the fridge. You can also freeze them, but they become slightly dry when defrosted.
8. Nutrition per serving without sauce.
serving: 193g calories: 316kcal fat: 24g (31%) saturated fat: 7.1g (36%) trans fat: 0.5g polyunsaturated fat: 3.7g monounsaturated fat: 11g cholesterol: 100mg (33%) sodium: 649mg (28%) carbohydrates: 3.5g (1%) dietary fibre: 1.3g (5%) sugar: 1.6g protein: 22g vitamin D: 0mcg (1%) calcium: mg (18%) iron: 2.9mg (16%) potassium: 365mg (8%)
Nutrition of Tomato Flavoured Sauce per tablespoon.
serving: 19g calories: 14kcal fat: 1.2g (2%) saturated fat: 0.8g (4%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 0.1g monounsaturated fat: 0.3g cholesterol: 3.6mg (1%) sodium: 80mg (3%) carbohydrates: 0.7g (0%) dietary fibre: 0.3g (1%) sugar: 0.5g protein: 0.3g vitamin D: 0mcg (0%) calcium: 7mg (1%) iron: 0.1mg (1%) potassium: 35.5mg (1%)