Have you ever made yubuchobap? It’s fried and marinated tofu stuffed with seasoned rice. The tofu tastes sweet, soft, and juicy, and the rice is vinegared: it’s a very unique combination, and even a little meaty! It’s very simple to make, and very popular in Korea. We usually make yubuchopbap from inexpensive readymade kits, but the real key to this dish is the properly-made fluffy rice with firm yet pliant grains.
I originally posted this recipe in 2010, but I decided to remake the video this year because of an important discovery I made!
I found that using my 1 tablespoon cookie dough scoop to make rice balls to fill the pockets is much easier, simpler, cleaner, and faster than the conventional method of squeezing rice with my hands. Ever since I discovered this, I make yubuchobap very often and I really wanted to share this with you.
Yubuchobap makes for a great lunch menu, especially when paired with something like a salad. Now that springtime is here, it’s something quick you can make for a picnic on a sunny day. Enjoy the recipe and let me know if you try it!
Ingredients (1 or 2 servings)
- 1 small yubuchobap kit (with 14 triangle pieces inside)
- 2 cups of cooked rice (about 10 ounces: 300 grams), made from 1 cup of rice
Directions
Prepare everything
- Open the yubuchobap kit and find 3 packets: a packet of seasoned tofu (aka yubu), a packet of dried ingredients, and a packet of vinegared sauce.
- Put the warm rice into a large shallow bowl. Mix in the packet of vinegared sauce little by little until it gets how you like it. A full packet is often too strong for me, I often use three-quarters of it.
- Open the packet of seasoned tofu and squeeze out any excess liquid. Take out the tofu pieces one by one and open them up. Put them on a platter.
- Open the mix of dried ingredients and put them on another corner of the platter.
Make yubuchobap
- Make a rice ball with a cookie dough scoop and put it in a tofu pouch. If you don’t have a cookie dough scoop, just use your hands by forming about 2 tablespoons of rice into a slightly oval ball, then put it into a tofu pouch. Fill the pouch so much that it can’t close, and the pouch opening exposes the rice inside.
- Dip the exposed rice into the dried ingredients, and put the yubuchobap on a plate. Repeat it with a rest of tofu pockets until all of them are full of rice and seasoned.
Serve
- Serve right away or put them into your lunch box. It’ll be safe to eat up to several hours at room temperature.
Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe
It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon for that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
I made this today after finding a kit at a tiny Asian story near me :) so much fun to make
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Today I made 유부초밥
Very tasty
Thanks Maangchi
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Mouthwatering!
Hi Maangchi!!! I used this recipe for my home econs exam and i got an A!!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe!!!!
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Hi Maangchi!
I want to try and make this for dinner today :)
Looks so yummy! I was wondering however, if I have left overs, will it taste good the next day for lunch? Or is it better to keep the empty tofu pockets in a bag for another day?
Thank you! :)
“is it better to keep the empty tofu pockets in a bag for another day?” yes, it is.
Make it with freshly made rice.
Thank you Maangchi! They were so delicious and my husband and I ate them all i one meal :)
haha, you didn’t leave any leftover!
Maangchi, Please Make Citron Tea [Tea in a jar] best thing i ever had! Love Your Sweet, Sharing Nature
Dear Maangchi, annyeonghaseyo. ^_^
I wonder if there any appropriate substitute for cucumber, because I had an allergic on it.. Any idea??
Gomawoyo…
How about chopped spinach? Blanch some spinach and rinse it in cold water. Then squeeze out excess water.Chop it up and add a pinch of salt and mix. Then add to the rice. If this is too much work for you, just skip it. I use cucumber for color and crispy taste. Good luck!
When I buy the tofu pockets, they do not come with the seasoning, What should I do?
Do you have recipe for the seasoning powder and also the seasoning for the rice.
Thank you
You can make your own seasoning stuff. How about roasted sesame seeds and powdered kim (seaweed paper). You can add more delicious stuff like powdered dried shrimp.
YES! This is exactly what I use, and it’s delicious. I grind my own kim and dried shrimp :) It’s delicious!
These look delicious! I’d love to give this a try, but I’m afraid no one would eat them. My mother can’t eat tofu or really any soy products due to medical issues, and my dad and sister really do not like tofu. At all.
Maybe I just won’t tell my dad and sister that it’s tofu ;)
Dear Maangchi,
I ate yubuchobap at a picnic with the children I teach and wanted to find out how to make it… when I was in the grocery store I found a package and tried it at home! I came across your recipe after I had already made it, you can check out my attempt here… http://farmeggs.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/yubuchobap-seasoned-tofu-pockets-with-rice/
I didn’t realize that sticky rice would work best, I found this rice at a health food store here (in Korea) and I don’t really know what it is but I really like it!
Hope you are having a great day!
Anna
Hello… i liked the recipe… well.. dont want to look so dumb.. but… waa im from mexico and i would like to do this… the problem is i dont know how to cook rice… and i cant find a recipe where i could learn… korean rice.. waa.. hope you to help me… Thanks!
Check this out please : https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/rice
You will have to find short grain rice (known as sushi rice) though. Good luck!
If cannot find short-grain rice (arroz), medium grain will work too. Growing up in Hawaii, my mom never did use short grain, always “calrose” medium grain. It was not until I moved to California (and started cooking on my own) I realized how many kinds of rice there are!
Thank you Maangchi! I love your show. I made samgak kimbap today. Took me some searching to find the kit here in Portland Oregon!
I really want to make this but i cant find the colourful dried seasoning here and i dislike olives, so…. :((
btw anyway we can make yubu by ourself? maybe just cut tofu thinly and deep fried then dip in some kind of sweet sauce?? (wats in the sauce??)
soupstock soysauce sugar
I just made these – they are very very tasty. Much sweeter than I expected which I think is a combination of the radish and the tofu. I will definitely make these again! Thanks as always Maangchi :)
I saw the photo on the Flickr group. I will feature the photo soon. It looks great. You exactly followed my directions. : )
I made these because I love Inari and they turned out great even though I couldn’t find a yubuchobap kit.
http://ikkin-bot.blogspot.com/2011/01/cooking-korean-yubuchobap.html
Yay!I just bought the kit!im gonna cook it tomorow for halloween!Im also gonna make squash pancakes tomorow
I love cooking rice in pot instead of the rice cooker because I love noorongji! When I was a kid, I like putting sugar on noorongji. xD
Wow, I love yubuchobap! However, I didn’t know how to make them until now, and I couldn’t eat the ones at the supermarket because they usually contain a lot of MSG and I get headaches and start vomiting every time I eat those. Now, I can eat them without worrying about getting sick!! I love you Maangchi!!! I’m going to run to the supermarket after submitting this so I can enjoy some yubuchobap and noorongji later!!
I love you, too! Happy cooking!
I discovered your site by accident and I love it…excited to try new recipes. I’m half Korean and I usually cook by instinct trying to recreate some of the dishes my mother cooked when we were children. Never actually had a video or pics. I also love your style! I posted a variation of the spinach salad using kale instead…it’s my version but I love it.
I can tell you are good at cooking because you say you cook by instinct! Nice meeting you!
Maangchi.. while simmering the nooroongji.. can I add sugar? haha! the nooroongji reminds me of the pop rice here in the Philippines!
good idea!
wha~ it looks so yummy~! is it ok if I soak the rice for an hour…? I want to soak the rice while I’m in class kkkk
haha, it’s ok, of course! Even overnight soaking is ok. I meant at least 30 miuntes.
Oh I love inari/Yubu chobap! I didn’t know they made kits, that makes it even easier :D I think the eyes would be good for Halloween.
ooh,whoo, you are ready to surprise your friends on Halloween day!
Aha .. inari .. i was just thinking about what the word . I had this for the first time when i was pregnant !!
I definately want to try making this , since you’re saying it’s popular for lunch box , that would be good lunch box for my son :)
Can i just fix the rice in the rice cooker instead of the pot ?? it shouldn’t make any difference , should it ?
haha, are you kidding? Of course you can use your rice cooker. I have my own rice cooker but I’m showing how to make rice without a rice cooker in this video for those who don’t have a rice cooker. If you want to eat nooroongji (burnt rice and the tea), make rice with a pot. : )
I am living in Korea and I really like this kind of Tofu. They often have it in soups and stuff, but I cannot figure out how to buy it. I’ve tried a few times but I always end up with fish curd! What is the name of this kind of tofu in Korean?!?! (not necessarily for the pockets but in general…)
Thanks!
The answer is here: https://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/yubu
Great recipe but Maangchi could u please make kalbi tang soon?it’s getting cold and would be nice to eat that soup in this cold winter thanks
galbitang will be coming, yes, yes! Meanwhile check my radish soup with beef. If you like galbitang, you are supposed to like the soup, too. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/oisobagi-kimchi
Thank you Maangchi, for another delicious recipe. I used to eat these a lot in Asia. I have tofu pouches in my pantry, I’ll make some pickled radish and try it out.
How did your yubuchobap turn out? I’m sure you and your family enjoyed it. Are you making homemade pickled radish? awesome!
A Japanese friend of mine made these for us once. They are so yummy! Definitely looking for the kit at the market today. :D
I would be worried if the olive didn’t taste like olive!
haha, u are right! “oops it tastes like monkey’s eyeball?” eww! : )
hahaha!!! What an adorable recipe and video! Thank you! Loved it when you are talking about the eyeball!!! Will check to see if Asian market carries the yubu kit! Thank you, Emily for another fabulous recipe video! Can’t wait to try it out!
Thanks, let me know the result if you make it.
Supercute! The olive tastes like olives :-}
This is a great apetizer, i find the tofu pouches in the store and it’s called Inari there.
Inari (稲荷) is the Japanese name.
In Japanese, these are called “Inarizushi” (稲荷鮨)
Literally, sushi stuffed into seasoned tofu skin.