Spicy Korean Tofu (Tubu Bokkum-Bap)
Category: Main Dishes - Other

Suitable for a: vegan diet


Ingredients:
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A friend of mine made this for me this weekend and it was INSANELY good. It's basically a spicy hot dish of tofu and sauteed vegetables, in a hot pepper & garlic sauce, served over rice - I haven't made it yet but just HAD to post her recipe!

3 tablespoons oil
4-5 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 medium white onion, sliced
3 tablespoons "kochujang" (Korean red chili pepper paste - or any Asian red pepper paste works)
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 2/3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 pound small broccoli flowerettes
1 pound firm tofu, drained, pressed & sliced
4 green onions
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoons sesame oil


Instructions:
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Saute garlic, carrots, and onion in oil for several minutes in a large pan, until the onions are just golden.
Mix kochujang, cayenne pepper, sugar, and soy sauce in a small bowl. (You can reduce or omit the cayenne out if you want this dish to be milder - the kochujang is, by itself, spicy - and if you like things really spicy, double it or even more.)
Add mixture, broccoli, green onions, and tofu to pan. Mix gently until vegetables and tofu are covered with pepper sauce.
Add water (if you didn't drain the tofu well, you may want to skip adding water) to pan and cover. Let steam for a few minutes.
Remove from heat. Add sesame oil, mix gently.
Serve hot, over rice.


Additional comments:
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yum! :)

Made it tonight. Doubled the broccoli and only used a quarter tsp. of cayenne (a Tblsp for this relatively small dish! That's suicidal! :) ).

Delicious, thanks for posting.

I had to copy this one down also...Sounds fantastico....

Oh that looks wonderful. I happen to be a fan of Korean food. Thanks!

B

To quote Ralph Wiggum: "tastes like... burning!"

I should have heeded the warning, because adding the full dose of cayenne is indeed suicidal. I only added just over half the amount called for and it was still a little hot for my bland Canadian palate.

Otherwise, I thought that this was an excellent dish. The only other modification I made was that I omitted the extra oil at the end (after the first couple of bites I don't think I had any surviving taste buds left to notice).

Next time, I will probably try adding the tofu first instead of last, because as it stands the tofu isn't really cooked much. I didn't mind it that way, but it might taste better fried a little.

I've made this several times now...as I've been looking for ways to use the ko chu jong (hot pepper paste) I got a the Korean market a ways from here. Only problem with my ko chu jong is that it isn't as spicy as I'd like it to be :)...all hot pepper paste is not created equal. The kind I used to get in Korean restaurants on the west coast and in SK seemed to be much spicier. Course it could be I've killed off a lot of taste buds since then and things just don't SEEM as spicy anymore. The first time I did it without the sesame oil....but sesame oils is a staple of authentic korean cooking...and it was much better the second time when I'd gotten my hands on a bottle of sesame oil.

B