Dubu Ganjang Jorim - Korean Tofu Side Dish

Mr. Unoriginal Chef wanted to have tofu with our dinner, but thought fried tofu was a bit bland.  He knows I love Maangchi's website and actually pointed out this recipe as something he wanted for dinner.

I call myself his personal cook.  He points, I cook.  What a life.

Today's Korean lesson:
Dubu - tofu
Ganjang - soy sauce
Jorim - generic term for food cooked in soy sauce
Banchan - name for Korean side dishes

Featured on today's plate are brown rice and mandoo (dumplings) from Trader Joe's. 

Dubu Ganjang Jorim from Maangchi

Ingredients to serve two people:

• Half a block of tofu, drained, sliced into 8 pieces, and patted dry with paper towels. 
• One clove of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon of corn syrup
• 1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce (more than Maangchi's recipe)
• Vegetable oil
• Optional:  Sesame seeds for serving.

Directions:
1.  Heat up a frying pan and spread about two tablespoons of oil in the pan.  Put the tofu in the pan and fry each side for five minutes over medium heat.

2.  In the meantime, mince one clove of garlic.  Combine the corn syrup and soy sauce in a bowl and set aside.

3.  Add the garlic to the pan and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

4.  Give the corn syrup/soy sauce mixture a quick stir to recombine, and add to the pan.  Stir around to coat the pieces of tofu and flip to make sure both sides are covered.  Cook over medium-low heat until the soy sauce mixture mostly cooks off, although whatever is remaining is absolutely delicious over rice.

5.  Serve!  Sprinkle sesame seeds on top if using.

The first time we (who am I kidding, I) made this, the soy sauce didn't really permeate the tofu, so the overall effect was slightly bland tofu.  The second time I made this recipe, I upped the soy sauce by half a tablespoon, and I cooked it a bit longer to make sure the sauce got into the tofu.  I also drizzled a bit of the remaining sauce in the pan over the tofu for that extra kick.

Combine this tofu dish with my earlier potato dish and you now have two Korean side dishes you can serve!

Gamja Jorim

When I lived in Los Angeles, the banchan (side dishes) we would receive at Korean restaurants included a winter salad of potato and apples mixed in mayo.  When I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, I discovered a new potato side dish - gamja jorim.

I love the simple flavor and would nearly fill up eating just the gamja jorim and japchae (a Korean fried noodle dish) before my entree would arrive!

Gamja jorim is a great item to put in lunches, as you can heat it up, or serve it slightly cold.

Today's recipe is courtesy of Maangchi, which is a great resource for cooking Korean food.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 medium potatoes (or one monster baking potato)
• onion, white or yellow
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 - 2.5 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp corn syrup
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

1.  Wash the potato, peel the skin, and cut into one inch pieces.

2.  Rinse the potato in a colander to remove the starch and allow to drain.

3.  Cut half of the onion into one inch pieces.  Reserve the other half for another use.  (or make a double recipe!)

4.  Heat a large pan over medium heat and add 1-2 tablespoons of oil.  I used vegetable oil, Maangchi used olive oil. Either one will be fine.

5.  Add the potato and minced garlic to the pan, and cook until the potato looks translucent.

6.  Add the water, soy sauce, sugar, and corn syrup to the pan.  Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on the pan, until the liquid has evaporated.  You can check with a knife to see if the potato is soft after about 8 minutes - if the knife goes into the potato easily, the potato is done.  Check occasionally to make sure it doesn't burn and stir.

7.  Remove from the pan, add a little sesame oil (optional) and sprinkle sesame seeds (also optional.)  I prefer not to add these to my gamja jorim since I'm not used to that flavor.

Overall verdict:  Delicious.  I made a lot so we were eating it as a side dish with our dinner for a few days.  I almost wanted to make some galbi, some kimchi, some gamja jorim and have a full on Korean meal!  

This recipe is also very easy to make, and a good, basic introduction to Korean cooking that doesn't have a lot of ingredients.