Ma-Po Tofu with Tomatoes (FM)

• 1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes, or to taste
• 4 ounces ground pork
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions [This apparently didn't make it to my shopping list]
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; drain their juice)
• 1/2 cup stock, or water [Haven't opened a box of stock for a while and not about to do so for 1/2 cup]
• 12 ounces firm silken tofu, cut into small cub es
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• Salt
• Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

Mise en place.

The recipe says to cook the ginger, garlic, and red chile flakes just until they begin to sizzle, but it kind of does that on contact.

Add pork and cook until it loses most of its pink color and begins to crisp.

Add scallions (if I hadn't flaked on this), tomatoes, and stock.  Deglaze the pan.  Technically this is only supposed to cook for a minute or two, but I guess I didn't drain the tomatoes very well so I spent a while reducing the liquid.

Ditto with adding the tofu.  Reduced for a lot longer at this stage.

First time I ever worked with silken tofu.  There didn't seem to be a lot of liquid to drain off the package, but a fair amount seeped out of the tofu after I had cut it (virtually impossible to pick up any individual little piece of this).  Probably shouldn't have surprised me when it made the pot much soupier.

Stir in soy sauce and season with salt and more red chile flakes.  I used double the amount at the outset which really hit my sinuses and gave me a seriously runny nose that lasted long after I finished eating this.  Of course I added more at the end though.
A pretty good dish, and something I'd probably seek out a more authentic recipe for than the one for Hoppin' John.  I think I may have had a bite of this once before.