Sunday, May 13, 2012

Agedashi Tofu (Deep Fried Tofu)

One of my favourite protein snacks is agedashi tofu...a comfort food for me. (85g of tofu = 7 g of protein).  It's also really cheap ($1.79/700g at Superstore, probably less at a Chinese Supermarket).

I will admit, I used the instructions from Cooking With Dog's youtube video, but substituted certain convenient ingredients. I don't often carry daikon (although it's also really cheap), and I'm not a fan of ginger - and I have no idea where to get shishito peppers. :)

Agedashi Tofu


Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 5 - 10 minutes


Serves 4 as an appetizer
Here are most of the ingredients: Green onions, seaweed,
dashi stock, mirin, soya sauce, and tofu, cornstarch (not shown)

Fried Tofu:
1 block of traditional tofu
Canola or peanut oil
Cornstarch

Sauce:
200 mL dashi or chicken stock
(1/3 tsp of powder stock with 200 mL of water)
2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp soya sauce

Garnish:
Green onions
Seaweed
Shichimi seasoning (optional, I'm not a fan).

Cut tofu in half and wrap each half in paper towel, and set aside for 30 minutes, to make sure tofu is mostly dry.

Prepare stock: Boil dashi stock in water and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan. While heating oil, you can chop the green onions, and even use scissors to prepare the seaweed.

Boil the mirin in a small pot until all the alcohol evaporates, then add the stock, and then the soya sauce. Bring to boil and immediately lower heat and set aside.

Now that the oil is hot, prepare the tofu. Cut the tofu into 1 - 1 1/2 inch cubes. Dry each piece and coat evenly with a thin layer of cornstarch (dipping them in a plate or a shallow bowl of cornstarch works).  Fry the cubes in the oil, being careful to keep them separate. Turn to fry each side evenly, until a crispy crust forms.

Cool the tofu cubes on a drying rack.

Warm up the sauce once more.

Serve tofu with sauce, garnishing with green onion and strips of seaweed (I cut them with scissors).

Other garnishes can include: grated ginger, grated daikon, bonito flakes, etc...experiment with your favourite flavours.



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