jadesfood
Do you know “Yangnyeom chicken”? It is fried chicken coated with a sticky, sweet, and spicy sauce made with gochujang which is a traditional Korean condiment. It has become one of the most popular Korean food in Japan. The sauce is so delicious that you don’t need chicken to enjoy the yumminess of the sauce, so I came up with a recipe that uses this special sauce but is vegan. I use pressed tofu in place of chicken, and turn it into a rice bowl to enjoy protein and carbohydrates at the same time!
What is Gohujang?
Gochujang is a traditional Korean condiment that is spicy and also sweet. It is made by fermenting rice and soybean, then seasoned with salt, maltose syrup, and chili powder. It is often said that gochujang is similar to doubanjiang which is Chinese red chili bean paste. However, the Chinese one only tastes spicy, whereas the Korean one tastes spicy and sweet. The paste is so popular and common in Korean cooking that all Korean households always have it in their fridge. In Japan, it is not as commonly used as in Korea but is more and more becoming a kitchen staple in Japan as Korean food becomes a part of our repertoire.
Ingredients you will need
Firm Tofu – Extra firm tofu is the best for the recipe since you don’t need to press to remove excess moisture, but if it’s unavailable, you can use firm tofu or even medium-firm tofu works too. All you have to do is press your tofu properly before using it.
Potato starch – Potato starch can make your fried tofu lighter and crispier. Corn starch works perfectly too.
Oil – You can do shallow or deep frying to make crispy tofu. Deep frying makes the tofu crispier. I recommend using oil that has high smoke temperature. Ex. Peanut oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil, and olive oil.
Gochujang – I like using gochujang made in Korea, but you can use any brand.
Ketchup – This is for more sweetness and a little bit of sourness to deepen the flavour of the sauce.
Soy sauce – Soy sauce adds the sauce salty umami. You can use the soy sauce you have but have to adjust the amount of it depending on the type of soy sauce you use.
Sake – Cooking sake (rice wine) can be replaced with white wine. We need alcohol to enhance the flavour of your dish.
Sugar – Gochujang already has a sweet taste but the sauce needs to be sweeter if you really like spicy food.
Garlic – You can skip adding garlic to the sauce if you don’t like garlic flavour.
Green onion & Sesame – They are for garnish. Other options are cilantro and crushed peanuts.
Tips for this rice bowl
Press your tofu for at least 3 hours
This is the essential step for making crispy tofu unless you use extra firm tofu. You don’t need any gadget to press the tofu. Just wrap your tofu with a piece of kitchen towel and put it on a sieve fitted in a bowl (to collect water from to tofu), then put a plate with something heavy on top of the tofu.
Double-coat your tofu with lots of cornstarch
If you want your tofu to be crispy even after coating it with sticky sauce, cover each piece of tofu thoroughly with potato starch and do the same process twice to get the extra crispiness.
Fry the tofu at 170-180C (338-366F)
The tofu doesn’t have to be cooked all the way through. The oil that is 170-180C is perfect to make the outside of the tofu cooked and crispy but not burned or greasy.
Do not heat your sauce too much
The sauce tends to get too thick when it has been cooked for a long because of the maltose syrup. Make sure to stop heating the sauce just before it gets the consistency of your liking.
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 skip the pressing?
If you use extra firm tofu, yes but you can’t skip the process if you use firm tofu or medium firm tofu.
Can I use plain flour instead of potato flour (corn flour)?
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.
What to use instead of Gochujang?
There are some ways to make Gochujang substitute.
- Doubanjiang (Chinese chili paste) + Tianmianjiang ( Chinese sweet bean sauce) = ( 2 : 3 )
- Miso + Sugar + Soy sauce + Doubanjiang = ( 1 : 1 : 4 : 4 )
More Korean recipes
How to cook Japanese Rice in a dutch oven
How to Cook Japanese Rice In a Pot
Vegan Korean Potato Pancakes (Gamjajeon)
Vegan Crispy Fried Tofu Rice Bowl with Korean Spicy Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Deep Pot
- 1 Frying pan
Ingredients
- some Steamed Rice (200-250g per person) Preferably Japanese rice
For the Fried Tofu
- 300 g Firm Tofu If you use extra firm tofu, use 250g of it.
- 3-4 tbsp Potato starch or Cornstarch
- Flavourless Oil For frying
For the Korean Spicy Sauce
- 2 tbsp Gochujang
- 2 tbsp Ketchup
- 1 tbsp Soy Sauce any type of soy sauce is fine
- 1 tbsp Sake White Wine works well too
- 2 stp Sugar
- 1 tsp Garlic (microplaned) 1/4 tsp Garlic powder works well too
for the Garnish
- some Green Onion chopped optional
- some Sesame optional
Instructions
For the Fried Tofu
- To prepare the tofu, wrap it with a clean tea towel or a piece 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 the excess water out as much as possible.If you use extra firm tofu, you might not have to do it at all. It depends on the tofu you are using.
- Tear the tofu apart into bite-size pieces by hand. The pieces should be rustic for potato starch to cling to 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 Korean Spicy Sauce
- In a frying pan, put gochujang, ketchup, soy sauce, sake, sugar, and garlic. Heat the mixture on medium-low heat stirring constantly. Once the sauce has slightly thickened, add fried tofu into the pan and stir to get each tofu piece coated with the sauce.
- Put steamed rice in bowls or plates, and top with fried tofu. Sprinkle some chopped green onion and some sesame (optional). Enjoy!
