Japanese food holds so many great vegetarian options & Agedashi Tofu might be an Olympic gold medal (yeah I know, not the right timing). How this was even invented is beyond me… two blocks of dusty tofu deep fried resting in a sweet dashi broth balanced so well… it’s easy to make & a bit elegant this one.

Contents
Agedashi Tofu
Dusty blocks of tofu in a sweet dashi broth... the vegetarians comfort food
Ingredients
Tofu
- 280 grams semi-hard firm tofu cut into 4 pieces
- 180°c Vegetable oil heated to
- ½ cup potato starch or enough to coat tofu
Delicious sweet broth
- 40 ml mirin sweeter than sake & less alcohol
- 40 ml light soy sauce Japanese light soy
- 1 tsp Katsuo dashi stock powder no MSG
- 200 ml water
Toppings
- grated ginger
- grated white radish
- spring onion finely chopped
Instructions
Stock
- take all the ingredients & throw them into a pot & bring to a simmer
- FYI the control knob on your stove has more settings than full on & zero, feel around a little
Tofu
- Pat dry the tofu & cut in half, then half again, then half again so they're cubes
- dust the cubes in potato starch - please don't use corn starch it's just not as good
- put them aside until the vegetable oil is at the right temp for frying 180°c
- lower the blocks into the well of fire & fry them for around 4 minutes
- kick them around while they're frying to give them a good going over
- lift them out of the oil like you're saving kittens from a well & lay them on some paper towel
Video
Notes
If all vegetarian dishes are this good... then I'll be a full-time vego, except for sashimi.. oh and steak, but otherwise I'll be full vego. These dusty dice will play their way into anyones heart that takes a gamble. Japanese people love pointing to food & making non-factual statements like "that's very healthy so you should eat it", and then I argue, "but... it's deep fried" and they pretend they don't hear you or understand English... ah good times.