To prepare these fried Japanese tofu recipes you will need:
1 to 2 blocks of extra firm tofu
Mashed potatoes
Oil (I used olive oil)
Sweet rice wine
Soya sauce
Other ingredients that you can use are green onions, mushrooms, ginger, dashi, daikon radish, nori
My happy and delicious accident
My son decided a year ago to cut meat and dairy products out of his diet. He lived on his own, so I didn't need to go vegan or vegetarian.
Now that he's home, I search recipe blogs for some delicious vegan food.
The other night I made something tasty on my own with what we had on hand - tofu, sriracha sauce and soy sauce with no recipe.
I crushed all the water trying not to break the tofu. The paper towels were soaked. Once it was as dry as possible, I cut it into cubes - probably 2 inches each.
In another bowl, I put the sriracha sauce, soy sauce, garlic flakes and a little seasoning. After mixing it up and putting on gloves, I placed the tofu cubes in the sauce. I gently moved the pieces around in the bowl to make sure I covered each piece.
While I let this sit, I heated some olive oil in a pan over low heat. Once heated, I added the pieces one by one with a lid on top.
After about 3-6 minutes I turned them over - they were brown on one side. Be careful and keep the heat low or use protective gloves as the grease splashes.
I took them off the heat a few minutes later.
Next, I reheated some rice with soy sauce and sriracha with scallions, thinly sliced carrots and broccoli.
Finally, I placed the rice on the plate with the fried tofu on it. I tried a little myself and my mouth did a happy dance. I made something delicious.
My son ate his meal with pleasure.
What did I just do? I know from eating in Japanese restaurants that they have something like this, so I searched online.
His name is Agedashi Tofu. You do the same except that you add a coating to it.
Here are some mouthwatering recipes that I found online.
1. Agedashi Tofu by Nami from Just One Cook Book
She uses mild tofu in her recipe with vegetable oil, potato starch, dashi (kombu dashi for vegetarian - she has a homemade recipe on her blog), mirin, soy sauce, shallot, daikon radish and Japanese seven spices.
A step-by-step photo tutorial as well as a video tutorial are included.
She suggests squeezing the liquid from the tofu for 15 minutes. I think I might have done 5 minutes, so I will have to try and squeeze more water out next time.
After chopping the onions and grating the radish (and making the sauce), she fry the tofu. Agedashi is crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Read the rest of his tutorial as well as some interesting information about this appetizer on his blog Just One Cook Book.
justonecookbook.com/recipes/agedashi-tofu-2
2. Fried tofu by Bebe Love Okazu
This recipe looks very simple.
- drain the tofu
- coat it with potato starch
- fry
- make the sauce and cut the vegetables
- to serve
Visit Judy Ung's Bebe Love Okazu Blog for the full recipe.
bebeloveokazu.com/2011/08/16/agedashi-tofu
Tip: Tofu Frying Tips from Andrea Nguyen of Viet World Kitchen vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2012/06/tofu-frying-tips
3. Fried tofu with Dashi sauce by Natsuko Kure
For this version you will need soft tofu, potato starch, Enoki mushroom, chives, salad oil, Dashi broth, and Dashi flakes (make sure it is vegetarian), soy sauce, mirin and Nori seaweed.
Tip: Drain your tofu the right way - Natsuko drains their tofu using the microwave. Visit her to see how she does it.
cookmap.com/en/recipes/agedashi-tofu-fried-tofu-in-dashi-sauce
Don't these recipes sound delicious to you?
Next time I'm cooking for my son I'm going to try gutting the tofu as Natsuko suggests and taking some tips from Andrea on frying so it doesn't get splashed with fat.
Did you make Japanese fried tofu? Which of the three recipes will you try?
And now I'd like to invite you to follow me on Pinterest as I learn to cook by trying out various recipes.