Level 5 · Minced & Moist: soft, moist food with tiny pieces (no bigger than 4 mm, about the gap between fork prongs), held together in a thick sauce. Very little chewing needed. What do the levels mean?
Serves: 3 · Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients: Soft tofu, lean ground pork, low-sodium chicken broth, white miso, soy sauce, cornstarch. No chili.
Steps
Cook 6 oz ground pork in fine crumbles. Add 1 cup broth, 1 tsp miso and 1 tsp soy sauce.
Add 14 oz soft tofu cut in small cubes and simmer 5 minutes. Mash the tofu gently into small pieces.
Thicken with 1 tbsp cornstarch in cold water until the sauce is thick and clings to everything.
Check the texture: press with a fork and the pieces separate easily and pass between the prongs. It slides off a tilted spoon with no thin liquid pooling on the plate.
Use the food level recommended by your speech-language pathologist or doctor. Textures change with cooking time, cooling and reheating, so check the food each time before serving, using the simple fork and spoon tests in our swallowing guide. Sit upright to eat, take small bites, and stay upright for 30 minutes after.