Let me introduce you to Dubu-gangjeong (두부강정), sweet, spicy, and crunchy tofu!
It’s part of Korean Buddhist temple cuisine. When I went to Korea to study their cooking techniques and dishes I tasted it many times. I had it in an upscale, expensive temple cuisine restaurant in Seoul and in Buddhist temple in the mountain, eating with the monks. No matter where I went it was always the most popular thing on the table!
Making this dish is so easy. It’s like making my super-popular sweet, sour, & spicy Korean fried chicken yangnyeom-tongdak recipe, except instead of chicken there is tofu, and with no garlic at all because it’s a forbidden ingredient in Korean temple cuisine (along with meat, onions, chives, and scallions).
This will be a great dish for any vegetarian but anyone who likes spicy fried chicken will love it, too! Enjoy the recipe! ~
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 2 cups vegetable oil for frying
- 14 ounces to 1 pound firm or medium firm tofu, cut into bite size pieces
- ¼ cup potato starch
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds (optional)
For seasoning sauce
Directions
Make seasoning sauce
- Combine all the seasoning sauce ingredients in a skillet. Heat over medium high heat, stirring for about 1 to 2 minutes until bubbling. Remove from the heat and set the skillet aside. We’ll reheat this just before serving.
Coat the tofu
- Cut the tofu into 1 x 1½ inch bite sized pieces. Pat dry with kitchen towel or paper towel.
- Gently put the tofu into a plastic bag and add the potato starch. Seal the bag and gently turn it over until the tofu is well and evenly coated with the starch.
- Remove each piece from the bag individually and transfer to a large plate or a cutting board lined with plastic wrap, leaving some space between the pieces.
Fry the tofu
- Heat the oil in a skillet for 5 minutes, until it reaches 330-340°F. Carefully add the tofu pieces one at a time to the hot oil. Turn the heat down to medium and let the tofu cook for about about 2 to 3 minutes, until the bottom turns light brown and the surface is a little crispy .
- Turn the tofu pieces with tongs or a slotted spoon—they should be firm enough to turn without breaking—and fry for another 2 to 3 minutes, occasionally turning so that all sides turn light brown and crispy. Remove from the skillet and set in a wire mesh strainer set over a bowl.
… and then time to double-fry!
- Reheat the oil for 1 minute over medium-high heat and fry all the tofu again for 3 to 4 minutes, rotating and turning them over with tongs or long wooden chopsticks, until all sides are golden brown and crunchy.
- Transfer the tofu to the strainer set over a bowl to drain the excess oil.
Handle pumpkin seeds
- If you use pumpkin seeds, put them into a slotted spoon and dip them into the hot oil to fry them for just 10 seconds or so. Transfer the seeds to a small bowl and turn off the heat.
Coat and serve
- Reheat the sauce in the skillet until bubbling. Add the fried tofu and gently mix all together until they are well coated.
- Transfer to a plate and sprinkle the pumpkin seeds over top. Serve as a side dish for rice.
Posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2020 at 8:33 pm.
Tagged: dubu gangjeong, 반찬, Korean banchan, Korean temple cuisine, side dishes, sweet and crunchy tofu, sweet crunchy fried tofu, sweet spicy crunchy tofu, vegan dish, vegetarian side dish
May 12th
Apr 29th
Apr 17th
Maangchi thank you. It turned out amazing. I love the style of cooking and we will make more of Korean dishes. Thanks to you. We luv you from California.
Made this last night– it was delicious! Subbed chopped roasted peanuts for the pumpkin seeds. Potato starch is magic! I mostly cook vegetarian, so it was great to see a vegetarian friendly tofu recipe! Also I just got your book and it looks great. Can’t wait to cook my way through it.
I make this but using your fried chicken sauce
Thank you for this easy but very delicious recipe!!!
Some of my tofu exploded while frying second time… is it because of too high temperature or just my tofu wasn’t dry enough?
Anyway, it came out DELICIOUS!
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Made this tonight. Best tofu I’ve ever had! It was so crispy! Potato starch has honestly changed my life!
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First time trying this out not bad forgot the pumpkin seeds would of been great to have or some green onions maybe oh well thanks for the awesome recipes Manngchi!!
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It looks perfect to me!
I cooked this just now and it is so yummy!!! Can’t stop eating rice with it. Thank you for sharing vegan-friendly recipes!
I replaced the syrup with honey since it is difficult to find.
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It looks super juicy, crunchy, and tasty!
Dubu-gangjeong outstanding. Taste so wonderful so it is worth doing a bigger batch for toufu lovers in the family! Another great recipe for keeps from Maangchi…will hv to snap a pix b4 eating starts as it’ll disappear v quickly.
Looks delicious! I’ll add garlic to the sauce and then sprinkle with green onion!
This was delicious. Thank you for the double fry method, it is the crunchiest tofu we have ever had! I will use it with some other sauces sometime.
We had it with rice, kimchi, some of your braised baby potatoes, and some pickled onions I made.
It sounds wonderful! Happy cooking!
I will definitely try this! Thanks for vegan alternatives!
Fried tofu aka tau pok is also wonderful in soups. Very common is curry noodles soups.
Maangchi you left out gochujang from the written recipe.
I made this last night and it was delicious. I fried the tofu like normal and then I did the second fry in my airfryer and it was perfect! Crunchy and not too oily. I want to eat it again and again!
I make this but using your fried chicken sauce – delicious!!! I would love to see more temple food.