Agedashi Tofu
Tofu dusted in potato starch, fried until the shell crackles, and sat in warm dashi broth so you eat it before it softens.
- Prep
- 15m
- Cook
- 20m
- Waiting
- 30m
- Total
- 1h 5m
- Serves
- 4 as a starter
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 600 g | Press the tofu, then dust it in potato starch 35m Coat it at the last second — starch left sitting turns to paste on the wet surface. | Fry at 180°C until the coating is pale gold and sounds hollow 8m Two or three pieces at a time. A crowded pan drops below 160°C and the starch goes greasy. | Sit the tofu in shallow bowls, pour the warm broth around it, garnish 2m Around, never over. Broth on top dissolves the crust in seconds. | |
| 6 tbsp | ||||
| 1/2 tsp | ||||
| 1 litre | ||||
| a 10 cm piece | Steep kombu and shiitake in cold water 30 minutes, then heat to 80°C 10m | Warm the tentsuyu broth without boiling it 6m | ||
| 3 | ||||
| 400 ml | ||||
| 3 tbsp | ||||
| 3 tbsp | ||||
| a 6 cm piece | ||||
| 1 tsp | ||||
| 1 | ||||
-
Press the tofu, then dust it in potato starch
35m- firm tofu 600 g
- potato starch 6 tbsp
- salt 1/2 tsp
Coat it at the last second — starch left sitting turns to paste on the wet surface.
-
Fry at 180°C until the coating is pale gold and sounds hollow
8m- from 1 Press the tofu, then dust it in potato starch
- neutral oil 1 litre
Two or three pieces at a time. A crowded pan drops below 160°C and the starch goes greasy.
-
Steep kombu and shiitake in cold water 30 minutes, then heat to 80°C
10m- kombu a 10 cm piece
- dried shiitake 3
- cold water 400 ml
-
Warm the tentsuyu broth without boiling it
6m- from 3 Steep kombu and shiitake in cold water 30 minutes, then heat to 80°C
- light soy sauce 3 tbsp
- mirin 3 tbsp
-
Sit the tofu in shallow bowls, pour the warm broth around it, garnish
2m- from 2 Fry at 180°C until the coating is pale gold and sounds hollow
- from 4 Warm the tentsuyu broth without boiling it
- daikon a 6 cm piece
- ginger 1 tsp
- spring onion 1
Around, never over. Broth on top dissolves the crust in seconds.
Why potato starch, not flour
Potato starch has very large granules and almost no protein, so it forms a thin brittle shell rather than the bready coat wheat flour gives. Under heat those granules gelatinise, then dry out as their water flashes off, leaving a glassy layer full of tiny voids — the crackle you want. It also browns slowly, so you can hold 180°C for the full three minutes it takes the tofu inside to get properly hot without the outside going dark. Wheat flour, with its gluten, sets into something softer that surrenders to broth immediately.
Notes
- The broth is classically made with bonito dashi. Kombu and shiitake keep it plant-based with no loss of depth.
- Press the tofu properly. Surface water turns the starch coating to glue and makes the oil spit.
- Fry, plate, pour, eat. There is a two-minute window where the contrast between crisp shell and warm broth exists, and then it is gone.