Korean Braised Tofu

This spicy braised tofu dish, also known as dubu-jorim is coated in a savoury, spicy sauce seasoned with lots of spring onions and toasted sesame seeds.

This simple tofu recipe will have you addicted to tofu – it’s pan fried to the perfect crispy and coated in a spicy soy sauce with lots of spring onions and sesame seeds for the ultimate flavour. It makes a nice pairing with rice, noodles or anything really from spring rolls to wraps and sandwiches.

Tofu is commonly used in many Korean dishes (even meat-based ones) as it’s soaks up all the flavour and an amazing source of protein. It is also incredibly versatile, so you can add it as a substitute to most dishes while still getting the same spicy or sweet flavours.

One more thing about this recipe is that you can use tofu the way you buy it – no freezing or thawing needed. Using it in its natural form elevates the flavours to the next level! It involves a simple two-step process pan-frying the tofu until golden brown and crispy (yes it gets crispy even without corn starch), then braising them in a spicy-soy sauce loaded with chopped scallions. The aroma is wonderful!

What You Need for This Recipe

• Tofu: using extra firm tofu would be ideal so it does not fall apart when frying. Soft tofu tends to do that – one way to avoid this when you only have soft tofu is to deep frying to make sure they get as crispy as possible.
• Spicy-soy sauce: light soy sauce, sesame oil, gochugaru and coconut sugar to balance out the spice
• Aromatics: spring onions – add both white and green parts but reserve some of the green for later!
• Garnish: toasted sesame seeds and green onions