[Korean] Fried Tofu Boiled in Soy Sauce

Fried Tofu Boiled in Soy Sauce (Dubu Jorim), presented by Mr. Sgoi

This is a nice and easy dish for two people that you can eat with rice and whatever Korean side dishes you may have (or whatever vegetables you have in your fridge). You could also use this dish itself as a Korean-style side dish, in which case this recipe would make enough for a party of 6-8 people. 

Cooking/prep. Time: c. 30 minutes

Ingredients [click here for details]

18 oz. (510 g.) package of (medium firm) tofu

2 Tbsp olive or canola oil 

Half an onion, sliced

Sauce:

4-6 cloves of garlic, chopped

5 Tbsp soy sauce

Half a cup of water

1.5 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp dry white wine

1 tsp. sesame oil

3 green onion stalks, chopped

A pinch or two of sesame seeds

Cooking Instructions

1. Slice the tofu brick into segments about 1.5 cm. thick.

2. Heat the olive or canola oil in a frying pan and fry the tofu segments over medium-high heat. I sliced my tofu brick into seven segments, but could only fit four comfortably into the pan. Sad story!

Here's what the tofu should look like when it's done with the frying stage. Plan on about five minutes per side. You can mix the sauce while you're waiting for the tofu to brown up.

3. When you've fully fried the tofu, take it out of the pan. At this point you would normally fry the onion slices in the leftover oil. I was, however, sadly out of onions today, so I substituted garlic slices. (edit- if you use garlic slices instead of onion, you should reduce the soy sauce to about 3 Tbsp. or it will be too salty!)

4. After you've browned the onion or garlic a little, put the tofu back into the pan and add the sauce you mixed up. 

Let it cook for a while. I didn't adjust the fire at all throughout this whole process. When most of the sauce has boiled off, it's ready to eat.

I took this picture a couple of minutes before it was done. 

If you're eating this as or with a meal, put it on a single plate for the table or on individual plates, depending on how Korean-like you want your experience to be, and alternately take bites of it, your rice, and whatever else you've got on the table. 

This would also be a good side dish for drinking (the "ahnjoo" you've heard so much about) in my opinion. I think it would go well with lousy but cold beer or with soju, but you know better than me. Geonbae ("cheers")!