Pan Fried Tofu with Soy Dipping Sauce

Pan fried tofu is commonly found on dinner tables of Korean homes although it is difficult to say that this dish is a Korean dish exclusively because of the popularity of tofu throughout Asia and the simplicity of pan frying tofu. However, together with the dipping sauce below, one can argue that this dish as a whole is a Korean dish. Pan fried tofu is so healthy and delicious, more people should try it at home and replace their heavy and fattening dishes.

1. To make this dipping sauce, use light sodium soy sauce, and water. Use them for 1:1 ratio. Then add thinly minced carrots, green onions, and garlic. Then add vinegar (1 teaspoon for 2 tablespoons of water+soy sauce), sesame oil (same amt as vinegar), and toasted sesame seeds.


2. Ideally, if you can get your hands on hand made tofu at an Asian market, it will be great. These hand made tofu below are really tasty. Slice them into 1/2 inch thick pieces.

3. Oil your pan with olive oil and pan fry them for 2-3 minutes in high before flipping.

Another 1 minute on the other side or until they turn golden.

Now, how easy was that?

Enjoy. Remember, you are what you eat.

Korean Vegetable Pancake (Leeks)

This vegetable pancake is called Boochoo Juhn or Boochu Jeon using leeks or Chinese Nira. This is a vegan dish and I love how fresh this tastes. This is based on a variety of vegetables including zucchini, red peppers, onions, but most importantly, with leeks. Although I believe the word leek is to generally describe this type of vegetable, the tag on the vegetable said “Chinese Nira.” In Korean, this is called Boochu but I never knew it had another term other than leeks.

1. Wash the leeks thoroughly and chop them in one inch sizes.

2. Thinly slice zucchini, onion, and red peppers and add on a dish together.

3. For preparing the batter, you need flour, buchim mix (makes the dough more chewy), and water.  If you this as a vegetarian dish instead of vegan, you can add an egg but it’s really not necessary.  This tastes so good as is.  Also remember to sift the flour as it makes the better texture of the dough overall. The proportion of water to the mix would be around 5:2 ratio, meaning it’s thick.


Add a spoonful of garlic to the mix.

Add the vegetables to the batter. Below is how thick the mixture should be. Notice there is barely no runny liquid.

4. Now is the time to cook and first you need to oil your pan.

5. Add the mixture onto the pan.

6. Once one side is cooked for 3-4 minutes, use a large spatula and flip it to the other side and press down to evenly flatten the pancake.

7. Flip again one more time back to the original side, which is the better looking side and just slide it onto your plate so this side will display on top of your plate.

Man, I'm watering in my mouth again thinking about this food. Enjoy!