Last week I made J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s Korean-Style Spicy Braised Tofu (Dubu Jorim) recipe from his The Wok cookbook.

The tofu is panfried in the same way as the Simple Panfried Tofu with Soy-Garlic Sauce and Panfried Tofu with Garlic and Black Bean Sauce. From what I’ve learned with those recipes, I seasoned the tofu with salt and patted dry with paper towels instead of Kenji’s boiling water method.

The sauce is a mixture of soy sauce, water, sugar, garlic, roasted sesame oil, scallion, gochugaru, and toasted sesame seeds.

Confusingly, the directions go from sliding the panfried tofu to a plate to adding the sauce and turning the tofu to coat. It is unclear when the tofu is supposed to go back in the wok. I returned the tofu first and then added the sauce.

The directions than say to cook “until the sauce is reduced to a syrup glaze that coats each piece, about 2 minutes.” It took longer to reduce and never made it to what I think of as a glaze.

Even with the finishing uncertainties, this was our favorite from this section of panfried tofu recipes. The sauce had great flavor and the tofu had good texture.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.