Called hansik, Korean food is known for being bold, salty, and complex. Every forkful of this visually vibrant dish packs a flavour punch, with fluffy jasmine rice covered with an umami-rich Korean sauce forming the base for pankocrumb-coated tofu cubes. Garnished with elegant green onion slices.
Crispy Gochujang Korean Tofu Bowl with fluffy jasmine rice
Ingredients
- 200 ml Jasmine Rice rinse
- 80 ml Rice Wine Vinegar
- 240 g Carrot rinse, trim, peel & cut into matchsticks
- 200 g Cucumber rinse & cut into matchsticks
- 220 g Non-GMO Tofu drain & cut into 1cm cubes
- 40 ml Cornflour
- 40 ml Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- 200 ml Panko Breadcrumbs
- 2 Spring Onions rinse, trim & finely slice, keeping the white & green parts separate
- 120 ml Korean Sauce (20ml Sesame Oil 40ml
- Gochujang & 60ml Tomato Paste)
- Oil cooking, olive or coconut
- Salt & Pepper
- Water
- Paper Towel
- Sugar/Sweetener/Honey
Instructions
- READY THE RICE Place the rinsed rice in a pot with 400ml of salted water. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the water has been absorbed, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to steam, 8-10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and cover.
- QUICK PICKLE In a bowl, combine the rice wine vinegar and 10ml of sweetener. Add the carrot & cucumber matchsticks, toss to combine, and set aside in the fridge.
- TASTY TOFU Pat the tofu cubes dry with a paper towel. In a shallow dish, mix the tofu cubes with the flour and coat with ½ the soy sauce.
- Prepare another shallow dish containing the breadcrumbs. Add the tofu in the breadcrumbs, pressing the tofu to make sure they stick. Place a pan over medium heat with enough oil to cover the base. When hot, fry the crumbed tofu until golden, 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towel.
- KOREAN SAUCE Return the pan to medium heat with a drizzle of oil. When hot, fry the spring onion whites until lightly golden, 1-2 minutes.
- Add the Korean sauce, the remaining soy sauce, sweetener (to taste), and 100ml of water. Simmer until slightly thickening, 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and season.
- BOWL 'EM OVER Dish up the fluffy rice in a bowl, top with the sauce, scatter over the crumbed tofu, and side with the pickled veggies. Garnish with the green onion slices. Enjoy!
