I love tofu, and I especially love it in this Sweet Spicy Tofu Stir-Fry. Part of my regular cooking repertoire is a stir-fry dish inspired by @madhungryseoul‘s recipe of the Korean tofu dish Dubu Jorim. I am a big fan of Korean food, but I cook it with less chili because I can’t take very spicy food.
Here in Delhi, I buy the brand Pure Diet for tofu, available on Big Basket. The first time I made this, I made it without any veggies, then I thought why not add some?
To make it a one pot meal (less dishes to wash), and to do it with less oil, all I did was saute the onion and bell pepper in the pan first, then removed it and set it aside. I would have added carrots too, even zucchini, but we didn’t have any.
Anyway, then I threw in some water and the cubed tofu, covered the pan and “steamed” the tofu for a few minutes to soften it and afterwards put everything in, including the sauce, to cook together.
One thing about Asian dishes is many of the sauces have quite a bit of sugar. I don’t like this so much but I love sweet spicy sour flavors (hence the love for Korean and Thai food), so I use half stevia half sugar, but it does affect the consistency of the sauce. You can use all sugar if you wish.
The key here is really the sauce. This sauce is so good, you could use it for so many things, even noodles! Hope you guys try this soon 🙂 Let me know if you do!
Easy Sweet Spicy Tofu Stir-Fry
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp sugar (or use half sugar, half stevia like I did)
- 2 1/2 tbsp Korean chili flakes (gochugaru)
- 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 1 small onion, minced
- 1 tsp salt, or to taste
- dash black pepper
Veggies
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cup chopped veggies such as onion, bell pepper, carrots, zucchini
Tofu
- 1 1/2 tbsp oil
- 300 g firm tofu, cubed
Garnish
- 1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
- 1 tbsp green onion, chopped
Instructions
Sauce
- Combine all the ingredients for your sauce in a bowl and set aside.
Veggies
- Over medium flame, heat 2 tsp oil and lightly saute your veggies.
- Remove veggies from the pan and set aside.
Tofu
- Over medium-high flame, heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in a flat-bottomed pan. Add the tofu to the hot pan and fry for 2 minutes, then turn it over to fry on the other side.
- Add the veggies and the sauce to the pan and mix it well. Let it cook for 2-3 more minutes.
- Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and green onions and serve with rice.