One of my favorite cuisine is Japanese. Everything is so delicate, light, flavorful… I could go on forever. Anyway even Japanese fried food seems light! Age Dashi Tofu is a traditional dish where tofu is lightly coated in a starch mixture and then fried. But tofu does not absorb oil so its seems like its quite healthier than other fried foods. This is the first, and probably last, really fried food you will see in this blog [ though I did discover that our Greek donut holes are vegan and I am tempted to make them just to show it to you guys, but we will see about that]
Anyway, back to the dish. The fried tofu is then place in a delicate flavored broth and sprinkled with nori shreds. Its quite easy to make, though it seems complicated for some that are not familiar with Japanese cooking ingredients.
Here is what you need :
-1 package firm silken tofu
-1 package tempura batter mix or 1cup corn or potato starch, some garlic powder and salt mixed together
-Oil for frying [ I use pure sunflower oil]
Broth :
-1 kombu stick [dried seaweed for dashi]
-2 1/2cup water
-5tbsp mirin [sweet cooking sake]
-4tbsp Shoyu
-10 whole dried shitake mushrooms
-1/2 tsp grated ginger
First soak the kombu stick and mushrooms in the water for 30 minutes and set aside. Drain tofu from the package liquid and cut in cubes. Now dip each cube and toss lightly in the starch mixture. Once you toss all the cubes, take a small wok and pour oil [not too much, its should be around 3 fingers deep. Heat the oil on medium heat taking care not to burn it [if you see smoke, throw it away-for the people new to frying, burning your oil makes it really really bad for you] and start frying the cubes 3-4 at a time. Once they turn golden remove with a slotted spoon onto kitchen towels.
Heat in a sauce pan the water with the mushrooms and kombu [same water] and bring to boil. Once its boiling remove the kombu and mushrooms [you can use them in other recipes, so don't throw them away] Lower the heat and add in shoyu and mirin. Stir and set aside. Throw in the broth 1/2 tsp grated ginger.
One of my favorite cuisine is Japanese. Everything is so delicate, light, flavorful… I could go on forever. Anyway even Japanese fried food seems light! Age Dashi Tofu is a traditional dish where tofu is lightly coated in a starch mixture and then fried. But tofu does not absorb oil so its seems like its quite healthier than other fried foods. This is the first, and probably last, really fried food you will see in this blog [ though I did discover that our Greek donut holes are vegan and I am tempted to make them just to show it to you guys, but we will see about that]
Anyway, back to the dish. The fried tofu is then place in a delicate flavored broth and sprinkled with nori shreds. Its quite easy to make, though it seems complicated for some that are not familiar with Japanese cooking ingredients.
Here is what you need :
-1 package firm silken tofu
-1 package tempura batter mix or 1cup corn or potato starch, some garlic powder and salt mixed together
-Oil for frying [ I use pure sunflower oil]
Broth :
-1 kombu stick [dried seaweed for dashi]
-2 1/2cup water
-5tbsp mirin [sweet cooking sake]
-4tbsp Shoyu
-10 whole dried shitake mushrooms
-1/2 tsp grated ginger
First soak the kombu stick and mushrooms in the water for 30 minutes and set aside. Drain tofu from the package liquid and cut in cubes. Now dip each cube and toss lightly in the starch mixture. Once you toss all the cubes, take a small wok and pour oil [not too much, its should be around 3 fingers deep. Heat the oil on medium heat taking care not to burn it [if you see smoke, throw it away-for the people new to frying, burning your oil makes it really really bad for you] and start frying the cubes 3-4 at a time. Once they turn golden remove with a slotted spoon onto kitchen towels.
Heat in a sauce pan the water with the mushrooms and kombu [same water] and bring to boil. Once its boiling remove the kombu and mushrooms [you can use them in other recipes, so don't throw them away] Lower the heat and add in shoyu and mirin. Stir and set aside. Throw in the broth 1/2 tsp grated ginger.