Everyone loves tofu puffs. Okay, maybe not everyone. But they’re a great way to add crisp to any meal. You could also just plonk some sauce on them, with a side of noodles or rice and some greens, and you’ve got yourself a pretty good meal.
I like to have mine with harissa and tahin noodles, or with mapo hot sauce and spicy noodles, or with some classic Indonesian gado gado, or even peppercorn and lime or just plain old rice.
They’re also super nice topped with any of the Trouble&Spice chili crisps. Use discount code ‘DorothyPorker’ or click the banner below and your discount should be added to your basket automatically.
They’re pretty cheap store-bought but also super easy to make yourself. Find the recipe for tofu puffs from the oven below. Including a basic recipe for Korean tofu with spicy sauce (dububuchim-yangnyeomjang) that I found on Maangchi’s blog years ago.
Oven-baked tofu puffs recipe
Equipment
- Sheet pan or similar flat surface
- Kitchen towels
- Heavy object, for example a Dutch oven
- Oven
- Baking sheet
- Parchment
Ingredients
For the oven-baked tofu puffs
- 3 c - 375 gr firm tofu this will only work with regular firm tofu
- 2 T - 30 gr corn flour rice or potato flour also work
- 2 T - 30 ml neutral oil I use sunflower
For the dububuchim-yangnyeomjang
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 1 t - 5 gr honey use palm sugar if you want to make this vegan
- 1 T - 15 ml soy sauce
- 1 t - 5 ml sesame oil
- 1 t - 5 gr gochugaru dried Korean chili flakes
- 1 spring onion sliced into thin rings
- 1 t - 5 gr sesame seeds optional, but they do really round off the dish
Instructions
Press your tofu
- You can skip pressing the tofu but it gives much better results than unpressed tofu as this tends to be waterlogged.
- Press 3 c - 375 gr of tofu for at least 30 mins. You can do this by placing the tofu on some kitchen towels on a sheet tray, placing more kitchen towel on top and then balancing a heavy object on top of that. If you don't have a Dutch oven a large pot with a bunch of books in them will do the trick.
To make oven-baked tofu
- Once the tofu has been pressed, preheat an oven to 365° F/ 185° C and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Cut the tofu into your desired shape. Cubes of 1"x1" - 2x2 cm's or flat squares of 1.5" wide and 0.5" - 1 cm thick work best. Cut them too small and you'll be left will fully crisped up tofu.
- Mix together 2 T - 30 gr of corn flour and 2 T - 30 ml of sunflower oil to make a slushy paste.
- Coat the tofu cubes or slabs in the corn flour/ oil slushy.
- Place the tofu cubes, blocks or slabs on the baking sheet and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or so, until the tofu has become puffy and golden. Turn them at the halfway mark.
To make dububuchim-yangnyeomjang
- Note, you’ll want to cut your tofu in slabs for this one. Traditionally the tofu is pan fried in oil, but I find baking them in the oven works just as well and is a little less messy if you're a slightly panicked fryer like I am.
- While your tofu is baking, mix together 1 clove of finely chopped garlic, 1 t - 5 gr of honey, 1 t - 15 ml of soy, 1 t - 5 ml sesame oil and 1 t - 5 ml gochugaru.
- As soon as your tofu is done, plate it and toss over the sauce mixture. Doing this while the tofu is hot will take a bit of the edge of the garlic, in case you were worried about that.
- Top with 1 finely chopped spring onion and 1 t - 5 gr of sesame seeds and serve with plain rice.
Notes
