jadesfood
Karaage is one of the most popular dishes in Japanese home cooking. They are typically made with chicken thigh flavoured with soy sauce, ginger, and garlic, then coated with flour or potato starch and deep fried. Nowadays, there are a lot of different kinds of karaage that are made with not only chicken but also fish or vegetables. The variety is almost endless, such as cheese, curry, chili, and even honey. This is the recipe for the karaage that uses tofu instead of chicken and is coated with sweet sticky miso and peanut sauce.
What is Miso Peanut Karaage?
Miso peanut karaage is a local dish in Chiba prefecture in Japan where over 80% of peanuts in Japan are produced. Originally, “Miso peanuts, ” a local favourite snack existed long before the karaage version was invented. Miso peanuts are roasted peanuts coated with a miso and sugar mixture which is sticky, sweet, and yummy. In Chiba prefacture, most children including me grew up eating miso peanuts at school lunch time and we love them so much! One day, a genius came up with the idea of making karaage with miso peanut sauce which turned out to be amazing.
Ingredients You Will Need
Tofu – Extra firm tofu is best for this recipe but in Japan, it isn’t easily available, so I usually do is use medium firm tofu and press it to excess water out.
Miso – There are lots of different kinds of miso, so you might think about what type of it to use but I recommend using the most common brand you can find at the grocery store because there are supposed to be only typical types of miso on sale outside Japan. I want you to use the most common one which is called “awase miso” in Japanese.
Sugar – Any type of sugar is fine but if you want to keep your sauce vegan, use vegan sugar in your sauce.
Peanuts – I use roasted unsalted peanuts and roughly chop and lightly toast in a frying pan.
Potato starch – Your tofu can be light and crispy by coating it with potato starch rather than with flour but you can use flour if you want.
Corn syrup – This is for the stickiness of the sauce and to make it shiny. If you don’t want to use it, you can skip this.
Tips for making Miso Peanut Karaage
Press your tofu to drain as much water out
If you are using extra firm tofu, it might not to be needed but if you’re using medium firm tofu, please make sure to press your tofu by putting something heavy on top of your tofu to remove excess moisture otherwise your tofu will be too soft and watery.
Coat your tofu pieces thoroughly with potato starch before frying
Coating your tofu completely with potato starch is essential because tofu naturally has a lot of moisture and hot oil and water are enemies. If you fry the tofu without thorough coating, sometimes it explodes during frying and it’s very dangerous!
Do not overheat your sweet miso sauce
Because this sweet miso sauce has lots of sugar in it, overheating makes your sauce too sticky. It is important to stop heating just before the consistency you like it to be.
Q & A
Can I use silken tofu instead of firm tofu?
Water is the enemy of any fried food, so silken tofu is not ideal for this recipe because of its water content.
Can I use plain flour instead of potato starch?
Yes, you can. The reason why I use potato or cornstarch for this recipe is that you can make your fried tofu crispier and lighter than plain flour but using plain flour is perfectly fine as well.
Can I bake them instead of frying them?
You can try to do so. However, I assume the result would be quite different from the deep-fried one.
More Tofu Recipes to Enjoy
Vegan Crispy Fried Tofu Rice Bowl with Korean Spicy Sauce (Yangnyeom)
Deep Fried Tofu Balls (Ganmodoki)
Vegan Tofu Japanese Savoury Pancake (Vegan Okonomiyaki)
Vegan Crispy Fried Tofu Rice Bowl with Korean Spicy Sauce (Yangnyeom)
Vegan Deep Fried Tofu with Sweet Miso Sauce and Peanuts (Miso Peanut Karaage)
Equipment
- 1 pot Big enough for deep frying
- 1 Frying pan
Ingredients
- 300 g Medium firm Tofu If you use extra firm tofu, use 250g of it.
- 50 g Miso If you use red miso, reduce it to 40g
- 40 g Sugar
- 1 tbsp Corn Syrup or Golden Syrup
- 50 g Peanuts roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp Water
- some Potato Starch or Corn starch for coating
- some Oil for frying
Instructions
- To prepare the tofu, wrap it with a clean tea towel or a peice of kitchen towel and place it on a tray or a plate. Put something heavy such as a saucepan and weigh it down more with cans or jars. Leave it for about 1 hour to press excess water out as much as possible.If you use extra firm tofu, you might not have to do it at all depending on the tofu you are using.
- Tear the tofu apart in bite size pieces by hands. The peices should be rustic for potato starch to cling on the surface easily. Thoroughly coat them with potato starch and deep fry them in hot oil (170-180C) until the outside becomes crispy.
For The Sweet Miso Sauce
- Lightly toast chopped peanuts in a frying pan and add miso, sugar, and water. Heat the mixture on medium heat until it thickens a little bit and add corn syrup.
- Add fried tofu to the pan and stir them to coat the tofu with sticky miso sauce. Serve immediately and enjoy!
