Stuffed tomatoes

I always think of stuffed tomatoes as a Mediterranean dish, something you'll find in Greece or Turkey. But the recipe seems to have traveled, and I stumbled across this Vietnamese version.

I've adapted this as a starter; for a main course, just add cooked rice or broken noodles to the filling, and increase the number of tomatoes per person.

Recipe

1/4 lb ground pork
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp minced chili or sambal olek
1 tsp fish sauce
4 large mushroom, very finely diced
1/4 small onion, very finely diced
6 medium tomatoes
2 tsp oil
1 tsp minced garlic

In a large bowl, mix the pork, sugar, chili, fish sauce, the onion, and approximately 1/4 of the diced mushrooms.

Cut the tomatoes in half, scooping out the seeds and central flesh with a teaspoon. Reserve the removed centres, and stuff the halves with the pork mixture, flattening the tops.

In a wide-bottomed pan or french skillet, heat the oil. Add the garlic and saute 1 minute, then place the tomatoes, pork side down, into the pan. Add the reserved tomato centres and the remaining mushrooms to the pan, alongside the stuffed tomatoes.

Cook approximately 10 minutes, until the tomatoes are cooked and the pork filling is well-browned on the bottom. As a few tbsp water if the tomato/mushroom mixture in the pan is too dry.

Serves: 2-3
Preparation and cooking time: 15 minutes