The Asian Person's Hamburger Helper

I don't mean to generalize, but if you are Asian of any persuasion, you probably have a box of what you see above in your pantry. It is, as the title of this post suggests, the Asian person's Hamburger Helper--it turns stuff you already have in your fridge or freezer (ground pork, a bunch of scallions, and soft tofu) into a hot meal.

It's also the shortest distance from hungry to happy in 15 minutes or less. You brown the meat, add the chopped scallions, add the sauce, let it simmer a bit, then fold in the tofu cubes. You don't even need to read the directions on the box.



And of course, you should have it with some steamed rice. Actually, probably a lot of it. What you see is below is one box of tofu with about a half pound of meat, but I could polish off the entire thing all by lonesome self.

I've tried many other brands of Mabo Tofu sauce, but the House Foods version trumps them all. Heck, in my opinion, it produces a better product than most restaurant mabo tofus. You might say the same about the good ol' blue box of Kraft Mac-N-Cheese. Yes, I have that in my pantry, too, but it's like, five years old and untouched.

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