Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu

Veganized version of the dish Kkanpunggi (깐풍기) from the blog The Korean Vegan.

Ingredients

• 1 16 ounce block extra firm tofu pressed and chopped into 1/2 inch bite sized chunks
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons potato starch plus 1 extra teaspoon
• 7 cloves garlic minced
• 1/4 red onion diced
• 2 Korean green chilis, sliced, can sub seeded jalapenos
• 2 whole scallions white parts chopped, green parts sliced on a bias
• 1 Tablespoon gochugaru
• 1-1 1/2 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/2 Tablespoon mirin, optional
• 4+1 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/8 cup dried red chilis, optional
• 1/2 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. To a large bowl, add a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of potato starch to tofu chunks. Gently toss the tofu to make sure they are all evenly coated. Set aside.
2. Prep your vegetables by mincing the garlic, dicing the onion, slicing the Korean chilis, and chopping up the scallions.
3. Prepare the sauce by mixing together gochugaru, soy sauce, white wine vinegar, maple syrup, mirin, and 1 teaspoon of potato starch. Set aside.
4. To a very large non-stick pan, add 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil over high heat. When oil is very hot, add coated tofu chunks in one layer,making sure they are not # touching each other. If they touch, they will stick to one another.
5. Cook the tofu and flip them one by one, until they are brown on all sides (approximately 7 minutes). Remove the tofu chunks from the pan and set them aside on a cooling rack to drain the excess oil. Repeat with the remaining tofu.
6. When all of the tofu has been fried, in the same pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil. Then add the garlic, onions, chilis, and scallions and saute the vegetables until the garlic starts to brown.
7. Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the sauce, stirring it with a wooden spoon until it reduces down into a thick sauce (approximately 30 seconds). Turn off the heat.
8. Gently add back the fried tofu and stir everything together, so that the tofu chunks are evenly coated in your sauce.
9. Garnish the tofu with ½ tablespoon of sesame oil and 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Notes

• Calls for high heat in a non-stick pan, so a cast iron pan is needed to fry as specified.
• Evaluate frying “air fryer” style in the oven. Frying in a pan requires flipping each tofu cube individually to prevent sticking to each other, so should be far easier. Though should evaluate if the sticking is that big of a deal, as my first attempt was screwed over by not using a non-stick pan.