Broccoli with tofu

Happy New Year!
For my first video for 2021, I chose something easy, simple, fast, and healthy. Broccoli with tofu, or broccoli dubu-muchim (브로콜리 두부무침) in Korean.

Some of you are probably familiar with this dish because many Korean restaurants serve it as a side dish. This is a more modern Korean dish as broccoli is not traditionally a Korean ingredient for cooking until the 80s. My late grandma would not make this, for example. I’m not sure who invented it but it’s a great idea because you get good protein from tofu and plenty of vitamins in broccoli. It’s a good combination and with such a generous amount of toasted sesame oil the dish is nutty and delicious and has a very Korean taste.

We Koreans typically serve it as a side dish for rice, noodles, or a meat dish like Korean barbecue or roasted chicken like I showed in the video. You can also substitute broccoli with chrysanthemum greens (ssuk-gat in Korean) or bunch spinach.

These days I just make food for my family and don’t have parties at my house, but before Covid-19 when I had friends over my guests always loved it, especially the vegetarians. It just looks so pretty, like snow on the broccoli! Everyone knows the taste of broccoli but when they try this they always ask me for the recipe.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 14 ounces (about 400 grams) trimmed broccoli
• 1 teaspoon plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 8 ounces medium or medium-firm tofu
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium high heat. Stir in 1 teaspoon salt, add the tofu, and cook for 3 minutes until the tofu softens a bit.
2. Take out the tofu with a large spoon (or slotted spoon) and put it in a small bowl. Let it cool.
3. Add the broccoli to the same boiling hot water and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until tender and bright green, but still crispy. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
4. Drain and rinse under cold running water to clean it and set the color. Drain well.
5. Put the broccoli into a large bowl. Add the tofu, but first squeeze out any excess water with both hands.
6. Crumble it by hand or with a wooden spoon.
7. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and add the garlic, green onion, and sesame oil. Gently mix everything together by hand.
8. Transfer to a serving plate or bowl and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Serve right away. You can refrigerate the leftovers for up to 3 days.