Spicy Korean braised tofu (dubu jorim)
20 min · 29 g protein · 340 cals / serving
Thick slices of tofu fried golden, then simmered with soft onion in a garlicky soy and chili sauce until the sauce cooks down and soaks in. It is one of Korea's best-loved home dishes, savoury and gently hot, served here with a quick garlicky spinach, and just as good the next day, warm or straight from the fridge.
Ingredients
- 1 lb block prepared extra firm tofu, blotted well, in 1 cm (1/2-inch) slices
- 1 tsp canola oil
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
Sauce
- 1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp tamari
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tsp crushed red pepper (or 1 tbsp gochugaru) red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 green onions, sliced
- 1 tsp sesame oil
To serve
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
Quick spinach side
- 8 cups baby spinach
- 1 small clove garlic, grated
- a pinch salt
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
Steps
- Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lay in the tofu slices in one layer and fry about 4 minutes a side, until the water has cooked off and both sides are golden.
- Scatter the onion into the gaps around the tofu and let it soften for 2 minutes.
- Stir the tamari, water, chili flakes, sugar, garlic and most of the green onion together and pour it over the tofu. Simmer 5–6 minutes, spooning the sauce over the slices and turning them once, until most of it has been absorbed and the rest is thick.
- Drizzle with the sesame oil, scatter over the seeds and the last of the green onion.
- While the tofu simmers, put the spinach in a bowl, cover and microwave 2 minutes until wilted. Squeeze out the water and toss with the garlic, salt and a few drops of sesame oil: the spinach namul you would set beside it on a Korean table.
Good to know
What goes with it?
Rice and kimchi, as in Korea. About 1/2 cup of cooked short-grain rice per person is plenty beside the tofu and spinach.
Less spicy?
Halve the chili. Korean gochugaru is milder and fruitier than ordinary crushed red pepper, which is why the recipe uses less of the crushed red pepper.
Per
- Calories
- 79
- Protein
- (33%)
- 7 g
- Fat
- (49%)
- 4 g
- Carbohydrates
- (18%)
- 4 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 222 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 681 kcal goes into the pot and 1058 g of ingredients comes out as about 865 g of food: 79 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.