Cook It: Agedashi Tofu

When I'm in one of my 'vegetarian' or 'health conscious' moods or when I just want something easy, light and comforting, I tend resort to a plate of Edamame and a bowl of Agedashi Tofu. While it's easy enough for me to make Edamame at home especially since an Asian grocer just opened up 10 meters away from my abode, the Agedashi part of the combo would make me have to drag myself to my local Japanese restaurant which isn't that far but sometimes you just want to put yourself on house arrest!

I'm not sure if it's because I'm lazy or because I feel like claiming the 'domestic goddess' title but I decided to experiment and make my own Agedashi tofu and my oh my was it delicious! Who knew that making Agedashi is as easy as... ummm... making something else just as easy. Because i'm incredibly satisfied of my own creation, I've decided to share my recipe with you all. It's easy, delicious and if you're a broke uni student... then it's uber cheap. So here we go, an Agedashi recipe that serves 3 people (or 1 extremely hungry uni student):

Recipe

• 300 gSilken tofu 
• 375 ml* Dashi Sauce - found in most local Asian stores 
• 80 ml*Soy sauce 
• 60 ml*Mirin (sweet rice wine) - found in most local Asian stores 
• 3 tbsp*Potato starch 
• 2 tspBonito flakes - found in most local Asian stores 
• 625mlOil (preferably Olive Oil), for frying
• Spring onions, thinly sliced (optional)
• Water*

* Simply a guide, adjust according to taste

Instruction

1. Drain the tofu from its packaging and place on top of a few layers of paper towels.

2. Proceed to wrap the tofu with the paper towels until completely covered (on all sides).

3. Lay the tofu (wrapped in the paper towels) between two plates as this will ensure that the paper towels will absorb most of the moisture in the tofu. If possible, lay it down on a slightly bigger plate than the one covering it.

4. Mix the dashi sauce, mirin and soy sauce in a saucepan - adjust according to taste and add water if required to dilute the concoction. Place on stove, bring to boil and let it cool down on the stove while you are prepping the tofu.

5. Unwrap tofu from paper towel. The tofu should look somewhat dishevelled and much drier than it was previously. Ensure that you are very careful when handling it as it tends to be more fragile than it was before the moisture was absorbed out of it.

6. Slice tofu in half lengthways and into threes sideways - You will be left with 6 tofu cubes (generally, 2 for each serving).

7. Roll tofu in potato starch and massage the starch into the tofu where required.

8. Heat your oil in a saucepan before placing your potato starch covered tofu into the pan. Generally, the oil should be half the depth of your tofu. Any oil will do but olive oil is best as it is much healthier for you.

9. Wait until all sides of the tofu is seared but still slightly transparent before taking it out and placing it on a paper towel-covered bowl. Note: You do not want your potato starch to fry till it is golden brown as it may dry out the tofu.

10. Once the paper towel has absorbed some of the oil from the tofu, place it into a small serving bowl and drown the tofu in the sauce you made earlier - it should still be warm but you may want to heat it again before serving.

11. Drizzle some bonito flakes on top of your Agedashi tofu and enjoy! Optional: You could also finely chop spring onions and drizzle a few slices on top of your Agedashi Tofu.

Forever and Always,

Nisa