This Silken Tofu Side Dish is the easiest banchan you will ever make. It uses basic pantry ingredients, takes 5 minutes to make, and requires no cook time!
Silken Tofu or Soft Tofu comes from curds of soy milk. They are unpressed and undrained, so they essentially have a high water content. This, in turn, allows the tofu to have a delicate texture like flan or pudding.
Tofu is naturally bland, but silken tofu has a certain creaminess that makes it enjoyable to eat. Because of the tofu’s production process, it can be eaten as it is. I know a lot of people may not like it, but it may be a different story when they try out fresh tofu, especially one that is cooked right.
For Koreans, soft tofu is a common pantry item because it is a quick protein you can add to stews like Soondubu Jjigae or Doenjang Jjigae.
Aside from it being a great add-on, this side dish I’m going to share with you is probably one of the tastiest ways to prepare tofu and you will start to appreciate this ingredient more.
This banchan is a super lazy meal, but super satisfying. It’s melt-in-your-mouth and a great vessel for the umami-filled sauce. An effortless vegetarian dish that’s high in protein!
Ingredients for Soft Tofu Banchan
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Silken Tofu or Soft Tofu
These are usually available in the chiller of Asian markets. Ensure to get a freshly made tofu for optimal taste, and store it in the fridge if you’re not going to use it yet. Once it smells or tastes sour, you need to discard it.
It typically comes in two shapes: Cylindrical and Rectangular. For the cylindrical tofu, you need a sharp knife to slice the top of the packaging. This will allow you to squeeze out the cylinder tofu onto your plate.
For the rectangular, you need to—
- Cut out the seal of the tub (they are usually hard to open) cleanly.
- Gently pull away the tofu from the tub and drain out excess water.
- Place a plate on top of the tub and flip. Usually, the tofu is sticking to the packaging so you need to pull it away beforehand and do taps on the bottom for it to transfer cleanly to the plate.
- Remove and dispose of the tub.
As mentioned earlier, soft tofu is delicate so it needs to be handled with extreme care otherwise it will easily crumble.
Soft tofu can be eaten cold, as is. But if you feel uncomfortable doing so, you can also heat it up in a microwave for 1-2 minutes or steam it for 5-6 minutes.
Aromatics
For the aromatics, we are going to use garlic, onion, scallions, and jalapeño. The combination of these four will make the sauce fragrant, and tasty, and will also bring some crisp texture.
If you find that the onion might taste too strong, just run it a bit on cold water and pat dry. This will help reduce any strong flavors it may have.
You will just need a quarter cup of each aromatic. As for the jalapeño, you can opt to skip or add more according to your spice tolerance.
Seasonings
For the seasoning, all you need is water, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, pepper flakes, and black pepper. This is a combination of salty-umami, sweet, earthy, and spice. The water will then even out any strong flavors from the seasonings.
Though it may sound simple, I promise you this is going to be a flavor bomb! As for the spice, put only as much gochugaru as you can tolerate. You can skip it if you don’t like it!
How to Make Korean Silken Tofu Side Dish
Prepare the soft tofu by removing it from the packaging, placing it on a serving plate, and then chopping it into 1-inch thick circles. Chopping it helps get the sauce through each slice. Nevertheless, you can opt not to chop and just scoop up the tofu with all the sauce and aromatics. They will taste good just the same!
Now, prepare the aromatics by chopping them into small bitesize pieces so they will be evenly distributed throughout the sauce making it easy to scoop and eat.
Afterward, combine soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, pepper flakes, black pepper, and water. Mix this thoroughly and taste to adjust. Add sugar if you like it sweeter, or add soy sauce if you like it saltier. Generally, you want the sauce to taste a little bit salty because you will still mix it with the tofu, but do season according to preference.
Now, combine the aromatics and the sauce. Mix it thoroughly, then drizzle the sauce on the tofu. Garnish with crushed sesame seeds. Yes, crush it, it will add more flavor! Serve this with fresh, hot rice, and enjoy!
NOTE: If you want to add more texture to the dish, feel free to add chopped cucumbers, seaweed paper, or even Chinese Century egg. These will elevate the dish further!
Serving Korean Silken Tofu Side Dish
As mentioned, you can eat this cold—super light and refreshing on a hot summer day or warm—this is a delicious appetizer or side dish! Drizzle the savory sauce and the crisp aromatics over rice and it’s going to be a simple yet satisfying meal!
For any leftover tofu that has already been seasoned, you can store it in the fridge for a couple of days. It should taste even better. But don’t store it for too long as the tofu can easily. go bad.
For the sauce, you can make a big batch of it or if you have any unused leftovers, you can use it as a dipping sauce for dumplings, Korean pancakes, or Korean BBQ.
Other Korean side dishes you may like:
Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok when you chop them up! Yeobosayo!
Korean Silken Tofu Side Dish
Ingredients
- 1 pack Silken or Soft Tofu Cylinder or Square
- 1 stalk Scallion
- 1/4 of Whole Onion
- 1/2 of Whole Jalapeño Pepper
- 1/2 tbsp Garlic Minced
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
- 1/2 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1/2 tbsp Sugar
- 1/2 tbsp Pepper Flakes Optional
- Black Pepper
- Sesame Seed Crushed
Instructions
- Prepare the tofu by removing it from its packaging and placing it on a serving plate. Carefully chop it into 1-inch circles and set aside.
- Chop the garlic, onion, scallions, and jalapeño into small bitesize pieces and set aside.
- Combine the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, pepper flakes, and black pepper. Mix thoroughly then taste to adjust. You can add more sugar if you want it sweeter or soy sauce if you want it saltier.
- Combine the sauce and the chopped aromatics, and mix thoroughly.
- Drizzle the sauce in the tofu, top with crushed sesame seeds, and serve with fresh, hot rice. Enjoy!
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