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The Korean Vegan

MainsTraditional Korean Recipes

Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu (Kkanpoong Tofu)

Why Did I Veganize This Dish?

I came up with this Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu recipe because it needed to happen. Like, there was a gaping maw in the universe that could only be filled once this recipe was created.

Ok, putting to one side my illusions of grandeur, let’s just say that this recipe was borne out nostalgia. Growing up, my family and I would go to this Korean-Chinese restaurant in K-Town called Great Seas. Great Seas was absolutely famous for its chicken wings, or Kkanpoongi. Their walls were covered in photos of happy dinners who set and broke the “how many wings can you eat in one sitting” challenge, and it was no secret why. Their sauce was so good, it was jarred, labeled, and sold by the gallon. My family would go to Great Seas for all sorts of special occasions—birthdays, graduations, the day after a juice fast. When I went vegan, I knew I would basically never be able to eat anything at Great Seas again, so I set out to veganize it. And boy, was I ELATED with the results!

Put simply, this is literally the BEST EVER tofu recipe I’ve ever made and I’m pretty sure it’ll be the same for you!

My Tricks For Making This Recipe.

  • Make sure to press your extra firm tofu to remove excess liquid. This will ensure your tofu chunks are nice and crunchy.
  • Use potato starch in lieu of corn starch or flour to not only keep this dish gluten free, but to make your tofu extra crispy.
  • Use my favorite gluten free soy sauce in order to keep this entire recipe gluten free!
  • Use vegetable oil in lieu of extra virgin olive oil in order to ratchet up the heat.
  • Make sure not to allow the crunchy tofu bites to sit in the sauce too long before serving—the longer they sit in the sauce, the softer they will become.
  • Serve with rice and water—this dish is SPICY!!

Other dishes to try:

  • RABOKKI
  • OMMA’S GAMJA JORIM (BRAISED POTATOES)
  • EASY PEASY PANZANELLA

Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu (Kkanpoong Tofu)

5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe
2

Ingredients
  

  • 1 16 ounce block extra firm tofu pressed and chopped into 1/2 inch bite sized chunks
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 Tablespoons potato starch plus 1 extra teaspoon
  • 7 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 red onion diced
  • 2 Korean green chilis, sliced can sub seeded jalapenos
  • 2 whole scallions white parts chopped, green parts sliced on a bias
  • 1 Tablespoon gochagaru
  • 1-1 1/2 Tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1/2 Tablespoon mirin can leave out if you don't have any
  • 4+1 Tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1/8 cup dried red chilis can leave out if you don't have any
  • 1/2 Tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Instructions
 

  • To a large bowl, add a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of potato starch to tofu chunks. Gently toss the tofu to make sure they are all evenly coated. Set aside.
  • Prep your vegetables by mincing the garlic, dicing the onion, slicing the Korean chilis, and chopping up the scallions.
  • Prepare the sauce by mixing together gochugaru, soy sauce, white wine vinegar, maple syrup, mirin, and 1 teaspoon of potato starch. Set aside.
  • To a very large non-stick pan, add 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil over high heat. When oil is very hot, add coated tofu chunks in one layer,making sure they are not touching each other. If they touch, they will stick to one another.
  • Cook the tofu and flip them one by one, until they are brown on all sides (approximately 7 minutes). Remove the tofu chunks from the pan and set them aside on a cooling rack to drain the excess oil. Repeat with the remaining tofu.
  • When all of the tofu has been fried, in the same pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil. Then add the garlic, onions, chilis, and scallions and saute the vegetables until the garlic starts to brown.
  • Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the sauce, stirring it with a wooden spoon until it reduces down into a thick sauce (approximately 30 seconds). Turn off the heat.
  • Gently add back the fried tofu and stir everything together, so that the tofu chunks are evenly coated in your sauce.
  • Garnish the tofu with ½ tablespoon of sesame oil and 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
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Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu (Kkanpoong Tofu) was last modified: November 15th, 2020 by the.krn.vegan@gmail.com
kroean foodmain dishesproteintofu
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I veganize Korean food. I Koreanize everything else.

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the.korean.vegan

The Korean Vegan, Esq.
Over a year ago, after the death of Ahmaud Arbery, Over a year ago, after the death of Ahmaud Arbery, I started thinking a great deal about how to eradicate systemic racism in this country and the role that solidarity between various groups played in that objective.  In the past several months, as the AAPI community grappled with the rise in violence against its most vulnerable, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand what we can learn from the this nation’s ongoing struggle with white supremacy and what, if any value, our solidarity with the Black American community could bring to that fight. This isn’t an easy post to write, partially because I am still learning and many of my thoughts remain unformed. Race, identity, oppression—these things are slippery, naturally evade definition, and as a result, it’s hard to have discussions about these things without causing injury—especially when we are all grieving as we continue to watch people die.
.
Not everyone’s activism looks the same. Mine tends to be more introspective, perhaps because I, like so many others, struggle with identifying concrete things I can actually do to make things better.  For me, it always boils down to “doing the right thing.” Character, integrity, loyalty. Showing up even when it’s so much easier to turn our backs and walk away. I write this now even as I know that I haven’t yet been really tested, that my commitment to BLM and the continued fight against systemic racism remains somewhat theoretical. When has my privilege really been threatened, when have I had to allow my own safety to be jeopardized for the safety of others?
.
I don’t yet know what the complete form of solidarity looks like, but I do know what it’s not: convenient.
Strawberry Milk! So easy. Just cut up some strawbe Strawberry Milk! So easy. Just cut up some strawberries, add a little orange zest, drop on some sweetener, then pour in 1/4 cup coffee creamer and 1 cup of your favorite plant milk! If you want extra berry flavor, marinate your cut strawberries in the sweetener for 1 hour before adding your liquids. The best part is scooping the strawberries into your mouth at the end. Trust me!
Someone asked me the other day whether I had ever Someone asked me the other day whether I had ever experienced any incidents of racism in my life. I had to laugh because at first I thought it was rhetorical. Of course I have. I’ve grown up with it. I don’t say that to play the victim-quite the opposite. It’s something I now take for granted as part of my life. And as I answered the question I realized it’s part of my “American life.” I’ve been thinking a lot these days about what it means to be “American.” It isn’t an easy one to answer and I think it’s an intensely personal question. So I answered it in reference to my own experiences. Recipe for this simple kimchi fried rice on my blog, thekoreanvegan.com. Just look up “fried rice.”
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