Spicy braised tofu

Dubu-jorim 두부조림

Today’s recipe is dubu-jorim (spicy braised tofu). It’s tofu braised in a savory-spicy sauce and pan fried with caramelized onion, garlic, and green onions, making it juicy, a little spicy, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It’s a delicious side dish for rice, noodles or porridge, and tastes meaty even though it’s a totally vegetarian dish.

This is something you can easily put together in a short amount of time that will please pretty much everybody, and especially vegetarians. You can refrigerate any leftovers for up to 3 to 4 days! This dish is good hot or cold, so you don’t even need to heat it up again if you don’t want to, just bring it out and serve.

It’s also a standard in Korean dosirak (lunchbox) item because it keeps well until lunchtime and it gives any meal a little kick. Enjoy the recipe!

Ingredients

1 package of tofu (18 ounces: 510 grams)
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup minced onion
2 green onions, chopped

For the sauce, mix in a small bowl:

1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon hot pepper flakes
½ cup water

Directions

Rinse tofu in cold running water and dry it with cotton or paper towel. Cut it into ¼ inch thick bite size pieces.
Add the cooking oil to a non-stick pan and heat it up over high heat.
Gently set the tofu onto the pan and cook for 7 to 8 minutes. Rotate the pan to cook the tofu evenly. When the bottoms get a little crunchy, flip them over one by one with a spatula. Let cook another 7 to 8 minutes until both sides of each tofu piece are a little crispy and golden brown.
Transfer the tofu to a plate. Keep the leftover oil.
Heat up a small pan over medium high heat and add the leftover oil.
Add chopped onion, garlic, and green onion (less 1 tablespoon, to be used for a garnish later). Stir with a wooden spoon for a few minutes until the onion gets a little crispy.
Add the sauce and keep stirring until it reduces a bit and thickens.
Add tofu and braise for a minute until the tofu absorbs some of the flavor of the sauce. Add some toasted sesame oil and stir.
Sprinkle some sesame seeds over top and the rest of the chopped green onion. Serve right away with rice.

Posted on Monday, February 15th, 2016 at 6:42 pm.
Tagged: braised tofu, dubujorim, 두부조림, Korean banchan, Korean cooking, Korean cuisine, Korean dosirak side dish, korean food, Korean kitchen, korean side dish, Maangchi's recipes, pan-fred tofu recipe, spicy braised tofu, spicy tofu, tofu recipe, tofu side dish, vegan dish, vegetarian

73 Comments:

snailpolish United States joined 8/20 & has 1 comment
Posted August 5th, 2020 at 5:17 pm | Log in to reply.

This is my favorite recipe!! It’s so easy and delicious; I make this for my girlfriend at least once a week. I’ve done a few different variants, but my favorite way is to sub the gochugaru for gochujang and fry the tofu in coconut oil for a little sweetness. This recipe made me love cooking in a way I never did before. Thank you Maangchi!!!

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JANELC57 TORONTO joined 7/20 & has 2 comments
Posted July 5th, 2020 at 1:28 pm | Log in to reply.

This was amazing! I used a medium tofu and cut the pieces in bigger cubes so once cooked it would be firm on the outside and soft on the inside. I also more than doubled the sauce. With the doubled recipe, I used 1 Tbsp of red pepper flakes and 1 of gochujang paste. It was a bit too hot for us so I added more water, soy sauce, sugar and a bit of corn starch and water to thicken it up (which is why the sauce was more than double). It was outstanding! Served over rice with braised bok choy as a side. My daughter was disappointed the small amount of left overs got eaten before breakfast the next day. Will make again and often. Thank you again Maangchi!
Faycrawford Florida joined 6/20 & has 1 comment
Posted June 8th, 2020 at 12:39 am | Log in to reply.

I made this couple time..My husband don’t eat tofu so much but for this recipe ..he luv it

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Nathan Heuton Vancouver, WA joined 2/20 & has 1 comment
Posted February 16th, 2020 at 12:44 am | Log in to reply.

I don’t usually like tofu but this recipe was very good!
Katrina B. Tennessee, USA joined 2/20 & has 1 comment
Posted February 3rd, 2020 at 2:50 pm | Log in to reply.

Maangchi, this was my first Korean dish that I’ve made! It was delicious. Unfortunatley, I have eaten and shared it all so I could not take a photo :).

I had a large mushroom in the fridge that needed to be used, so I added it to this. The mushroom became extrememely rich. If you do this, I would recommend sauteeing the mushrooms seperatley, putting it in a bowl while you add the sauce and begin braising the tofu, and then adding it in close to the end. Otherwise, the mushrooms will soak up the flavor that you want the tofu to soak up and the mushrooms become too rich.

I will will be trying more recipies soon. I’ve got my eye on mapo tofu for my second dish.
ProfessorM New York city joined 8/19 & has 1 comment
Posted August 27th, 2019 at 10:16 pm | Log in to reply.

This recipe is easy! My first dubujorim!
I also added two hard boiled eggs in the mix.

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Spicy braised tofu
Korean name: 두부조림
Romanized: Dubu-jorim

Categories: easy, lunchbox, preserved side dish, side dish, spicy, vegetarian
Made with: cooking oil, garlic, green onion, hot pepper flakes, onion, salt, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, toasted sesame seeds, tofu, water,