A delicious and nutritious fried silken tofu. It is perfect as a snack or served with rice as a meal. A simple 30-minute recipe!
More Tofu-riffic recipes: Tofu, Tomato and Egg Vegan Soup
Deep-fried tofu is a dish that's very familiar to me from my childhood and it's always been a very hearty and filling option. My mom would often add fried tofu to hot pots, side dishes and some of her noodle dishes. I often prep tofu for my lunches for work. When I was pregnant and had gestational diabetes, it was one of the few things I could load up on and still feel satisfied. There are many different variations of fried tofu including with meat filling, mushrooms, mixed with lemongrass and chili peppers. Here locally, the tofu market made these variations themselves and sold them to customers. We simply buy some at the grocery store and fry our tofu at home to eat it as is.
What is fried silken tofu?
Fried silken tofu, also known as agedashi tofu, is a Japanese style tofu. It is amazing, light, crispy and extra tasty dipped in soy sauce. I have also enjoyed it at Chinese restaurants. One of my favorite places to have it is at Seafood Cove #1 in Westminster, CA. While there are two Seafood Cove restaurants in Little Saigon, this particular dish is only available at Seafood Cove #1. This dish is also known as dau hu xao at some Vietnamese restaurants . I find it fascinating that despite our cultural differences, we have all independently arrived at a similar culinary dish and I can enjoy it at so many different places.
Making fried silken tofu is easy and this is a foolproof recipe! You can make it today and it will be faster than ordering out. Additionally, it's a lot cheaper too. At the time of writing this, I bought a box of Mori-Nu extra firm soft tofu for $3.00 at my local grocery store. You'll only need a few more staple ingredients that you may already have in your pantry such as cornstarch, potato starch, salt, pepper, and cooking oil.
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❤️Why You'll Love This Recipe
- This recipe does not require any advanced cooking skills.
- Fried silken tofu can be created in under 20 minutes.
🥄Equipment and tools
- You will need a frying pan and a small pot for blanching.
🛒Recipe Ingredients
Ever wonder what is needed to make crispy tofu?
- Silken Tofu - The key ingredient you will need to make this! I recommend using extra firm silken tofu. I use the Mori-Nu Silken tofu, but you can use any brand you want. With silken tofu you want to be very careful when handling it. It is very delicate and can fall apart easily. I recommend buying the extra firm one so it will make it easier to cut and fry. If you have pieces that fall apart and aren't in perfect condition you can still blanch and fry it! It just won't look "perfect" but will still be so good!
- Oil - My go-to neutral oil is canola oil. When it comes to frying tofu the cooking process happens very quickly. When you have the right temperature drop in the tofu and it'll start cooking within seconds. The heat of the oil is very important. If you don't have it at the right temperature the tofu will either overcook and burn or it'll not cook fast enough and if you have the heat at a low temperature the exterior of the tofu will become gummy and oily.
- Salt and Pepper - this is optional but is used to flavor the tofu.
- Water - The amount of water is important to quickly blanch he tofu. You want to fill your pot until it is half full. So when you plop in your tofu it slightly cooks and you can quickly scoop it out.
- Cornstarch and Potato starch - cornstarch and potato starch are used to coat the tofu and both work together to give the tofu an extra crispy exterior.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
↔Substitutions & Variations
- Instead of using salt and pepper to season the tofu, you can alternatively dip in soy sauce
👩🏫 How to Make Crispy Silken Tofu
When working with silken tofu it is important to handle it very carefully. It can fall apart very easily and it is very fragile. It is called silken tofu for a reason. First, slice the tofu into the desired shape.
Next, carefully blanch the tofu in hot water for 10-15 seconds each.
Follow up by coating in cornstarch and potato starch.
Fry in hot oil right after coating.
When crispy, take off the heat and put it on a piece of paper and dish.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over it or dip in soy sauce.
Expert Tips
- Soak up excess oil from frying by placing the fried tofu on a paper towel.
- Eat tofu as soon as possible to get the ultimate crispiness.
🙋♀️Recipes FAQ
Nothing. It goes by different names but its the same thing.
Hey there! If you're finding that your tofu isn't as crispy as you'd like it to be, don't worry - there are a few things that could be causing this. Firstly, you might not have had the oil hot enough when you added the tofu, which can make it absorb more oil and become less crispy. Secondly, you may not have coated it enough in cornstarch and potato starch, which can affect the texture.
This is preferential. All tofu can be deep-fried.
❄️Storage and reheating instructions
- Refrigerator: Store in an air-tight container for up to 5 days. If there is any rancid smell toss it.
- Reheating instructions: Heat up in air fryer at 350 F for 5 minutes to get crispiness. Heat up in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute. This will not be crispy.
Did you try this guide?
Leave a ⭐️ review below and tag @teerangathome on Instagram!
📖Recipe
Deep-Fried Silken Tofu (Vegan)
Equipment
- 1 small pot For blanching
- 1 small pot or frying pan For frying
Ingredients
- 1 package silken tofu extra firm
- ½ cup corn starch
- ½ cup potato starch
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- 2 cups neutral oil ((canola oil, olive oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil))
- 2 cups water (enough to blanche the tofu)
Instructions
- Cut tofu unto desired pieces. Be extra careful when cutting silken tofu because its very delicate it can break apart.
- Combine cornstarch and potato starch and mix throughly.
- In a pot add enough water to cover tofu and blanch tofu. Turn the heat on to high and when it starts to boil turn down to medium high.
- Add silken tofu to water and let it cook for 30 seconds and then quickly remove onto a plate.
- To a frying pan or pot add 2 cups of oil and turn the heat to medium high. Wait until the heat is ready to cook. A way to test it is by throwing in some corn starch and if it starts to sizzle and bubble it is ready for the tofu.
- Coat the tofu in the corn starch and potato starch mixture.
- Then add to the frying pan.
- Fry and turn the tofu until it is crispy.
- Remove plate and enjoy!
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