Fried tofu stuffed with rice

Yubuchobap 유부초밥

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Open the mix of dried ingredients and put them on another corner of the platter.

Make yubuchobap

  1. 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.
  2. 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

  1. Serve right away or put them into your lunch box. It’ll be safe to eat up to several hours at room temperature.

Posted on Saturday, October 16th, 2010 at 11:17 am. Last updated on August 10, 2021.
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50 Comments:

  1. AnnaMarie Abilene, TX, USA joined 7/20 & has 6 comments
    Posted September 27th, 2020 at 4:36 pm | or create a profile.

    I made this today after finding a kit at a tiny Asian story near me :) so much fun to make


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  2. dydy0212 Bucharest, Romania joined 9/18 & has 2 comments
    Posted May 16th, 2019 at 2:38 pm | or create a profile.

    Today I made 유부초밥
    Very tasty
    Thanks Maangchi


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  3. kimjongdaence joined 8/15 & has 1 comment
    Posted August 23rd, 2015 at 4:12 am | or create a profile.

    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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  4. NatSuarez USA joined 10/13 & has 8 comments
    Posted November 21st, 2013 at 6:38 pm | or create a profile.

    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! :)

  5. charlie137 Maine joined 8/13 & has 1 comment
    Posted August 23rd, 2013 at 1:25 am | or create a profile.

    Maangchi, Please Make Citron Tea [Tea in a jar] best thing i ever had! Love Your Sweet, Sharing Nature

  6. Pius Silvanus Medan, Indonesia joined 8/11 & has 1 comment
    Posted May 30th, 2013 at 3:12 am | or create a profile.

    Dear Maangchi, annyeonghaseyo. ^_^

    I wonder if there any appropriate substitute for cucumber, because I had an allergic on it.. Any idea??

    Gomawoyo…

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,047 comments
      Posted May 30th, 2013 at 1:13 pm | or create a profile.

      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!

  7. Blessed Singapore joined 4/10 & has 18 comments
    Posted August 25th, 2012 at 3:08 am | or create a profile.

    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

  8. martoufmarty Manitoba, Canada joined 2/10 & has 3 comments
    Posted October 28th, 2011 at 12:45 am | or create a profile.

    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 ;)

  9. aroco017 joined 3/11 & has 4 comments
    Posted June 26th, 2011 at 12:55 pm | or create a profile.

    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

  10. Han Di Mexico joined 3/11 & has 1 comment
    Posted March 26th, 2011 at 11:00 pm | or create a profile.

    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!

  11. Sriwanti Jakarta, Indonesia joined 12/10 & has 10 comments
    Posted February 22nd, 2011 at 11:56 am | or create a profile.

    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??)

  12. JamieF New Zealand joined 1/11 & has 120 comments
    Posted February 16th, 2011 at 12:20 am | or create a profile.

    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 :)

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