I love tofu. They are just so good for you. They are, what we call, vegetable beef! Coming from soy beans, full of protein and calcium, sometimes I can understand why God created soy beans. Before the time when the East met West, far eastern Asians like Koreans hardly had dairy as a part of their diet. Tofu and the soy milk were the major source of calcium until the western dairy, the cow’s milk, cheese, etc were introduced much later time.
Eating tofu is better than eating soy beans though. The nutrition in soy beans can be absorbed into our body only 65% where tofu (the processed form of soy beans) delivers 95%. During the curdling process tofu keeps all the nutrition of soy beans except some vitamins.
I know there are some people who are afraid of tofu due to its non-flavored mushy texture. I don’t blame them because I wouldn’t want to eat raw tofu either. So I would like to introduce a simple way of cooking this mushy-non flavored soy bean creature into more chewy-flavorful delicacy.
Perhaps this is, by far, the simplest Korean tofu dish you will make, level 101! But you gotta learn the technical side of it. As always I am here for you, so let the class begin!
If you don’t want you can omit it. But my sauce will taste better than yours, ha ha!
Click here to learn how to make shrimp powder.
Are you still counting to 16?
Let them sit for 5 minutes.
It creates beautiful crust on tofu.
Press tofu with paper towel to absorb more moisture before you add to the hot pan.
I like my tofu to be somewhat chewy. If you want softer texture 2-3 minutes is enough.
Make sure you pan is not extremely hot, otherwise it will burn. Adjust heat level. Medium heat was just right for my stove.
Do you see the golden crusts? Let the other side sear for another 5 minutes or so as well.
Just mix them well.
You will see that they’ve got shrunk a little bit. They have lost some of their moisture.
Serve when they are warm with some rice.
tons with calcium and iron.
So enjoy with a gratitude…
Ingredients
- 1 package (18 oz, 510g) firm tofu, drained and rinsed
- couple pinch salt
- 2 Tbsp grape seed oil or canola oil
- 3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tsp Korean chili flakes
- 1 green onion finely chopped
- 1 garlic finely minced
- 1/2 tsp shrimp powder, optional
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp roasted sesame seeds
Directions
- Place tofu on top of two layers of paper towels over the cutting board. Cut the tofu in half and slice each half into 8 equal slices. This will make total 16 slices, about 3/8" thick each.
- Spread each slices on the paper towel and sprinkle with a little bit of salt. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Heat your non-stick surface pan over medium heat, add 1 Tbsp of oil first.
- Press each tofu slices with dry paper towel to remove some moisture and add to the hot pan. Let them sear for 5 minutes until the bottom of the tofu creates golden crust. Flip to the other side, add 1 more Tbsp oil if your pan seems dry. Continue to sear the tofu for another 5 minutes or so until they are done to your liking.
- You can adjust the time for your preference. 5 minutes on each side will create chewy texture. If you prefer softer texture 2-3 minutes should be enough.
- To make the sauce, mix soy sauce, chili flakes, green onion, garlic, shrimp powder (optional), sesame oil and sesame seeds in a small mixing bowl. Place tofu slices on the serving platter and drizzle the sauce over. Serve warm with some rice.
Thanks, Jen
Yes, Shrimp powder do bring wonderful flavor to the dish without noticing its existence.I often use in Asian side dishes.
Bee, do you watch Korean dramas?
I wish I watch them to talk about. I heard that there are couple of recent dramas about restaurant chef and a baker. I hope to watch them someday. Just out of curiosity..
One of my labmates is a Korean and he introduced "Chijimi" to me. I`m a big fan of chijimi since then :D
Thanks for visiting mu blog and hope to hear from you again.
Wow! Your Korean is excellent. Yes, cook lots of Korean food. Let me know if I can assist you with any recipe.