Dubu-duruchigi (Spicy Stir-Fried Tofu)

How to make it

1. 1

   Prep the ingredients

   Wrap the tofu in paper towels to draw out plenty of moisture, then cut it into easy-to-eat pieces, and prep the cheongyang chili peppers, onion, and green onions. Mix all the sauce ingredients together and set the sauce aside.

2. 2

   Scallion oil and pork

   Coat the pan with cooking oil and sauté the green onions first over low heat to draw out the scallion oil; once it turns fragrant, add the ground pork and sauté it well over medium heat to cook off any off smell.

3. 3

   Brown the tofu

   In a second pan, or off to one side of the same pan, brown the tofu lightly in oil on both sides.

   · The point is to firm up only the outside, which keeps it from falling apart.

4. 4

   Simmer

   Pour 4 cups of water into a pot or deep pan, add the sautéed pork and the browned tofu, stir in all of the sauce, and bring it to a boil over medium heat; once it boils, lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

   · Long cooking over low heat is the point of this dish.

5. 5

   Finish

   Add the onion and cheongyang chili peppers and simmer 2 to 3 minutes more to keep some bite in the vegetables, then taste and adjust with soy sauce or fish sauce if it needs it.

   · The sand lance fish sauce and oyster sauce together build the deep savory note.

No coming back

Things that actually went wrong over 20 years in a kitchen.

• Adding the tofu without browning it clouds the broth and breaks the tofu apart.
• When cooking in bulk, dumping in all the gochugaru at once leaves you no way to dial the heat back.
• It sticks to the bottom easily, so stir it now and then.

You can fix this

If it hasn't burned or stuck to the pan, it can still be fixed.

• There is little liquid here, so water thins the meat flavor along with the salt. If it is too salty, stretch it with stock only, a little at a time.

Storage

Keeps 3 days refrigerated. Left a day and reheated, the flavor deepens.