Fried Tofu with Thick Mushroom Sauce (Mushroom Ankake)

Fried Tofu with Thick Mushroom Sauce is fabricated from simply greens, however it’s surprisingly filling and satisfying. The flavour of the Asian mushrooms within the thickened sauce makes the plain deep-fried tofu so tasty. Additionally it is an incredible vegetarian dish while you use a vegetarian dashi inventory.

I launched the identify ‘ankake’ in my publish Ocean Perch in Thickend Vegetable Saue. The flavoured sauce thickened with starch is generically referred to as ‘ankake’. So, I name as we speak’s sauce ‘Mushroom Ankake’.

Though deep-fried, the tofu will not be as excessive in energy as you suppose.

As you possibly can see in my publish, Residence-made Atsuage (Deep-fried Tofu), the Japanese model of deep-fried tofu is available in a big block (about the identical dimension as a normal pack of tofu and about half the thickness of a tofu block). The within of Atsuage retains the feel of tofu. This sort of deep-fried tofu has the least energy.

However, the Chinese language model of deep-fried tofu normally is available in smaller cubes as proven within the images under. The massive piece is 4cm x 5cm x 5cm/3⁄16″ x 2″ x 2″ , the small items are 3.5cm x 3.5cm x 4cm/1⅜” x 1⅜” x 3⁄16″.

Left: Atsuage, Center: Giant Chinese language deep-fried tofu, Proper: Small Chinese language deep-fried tofu.

The Chinese language deep-fried tofu is way oilier than the Japanese atsuage, and the tofu contained in the brown pores and skin has fairly a unique texture from the tofu due to the air bubbles.

Left: Atsuage, Proper: Giant Chinese language deep-fried tofu (left) and small Chinese language deep-fried tofu (proper).

Smaller variations of deep-fried tofu are referred to as tofu puffs, which have many extra air bubbles contained in the tofu, giving it a spongy texture.

The calorie counts rely on the scale of the fried tofu items. The smaller items of deep-fried tofu are greater in energy than the bigger items as a result of they’ve extra deep-fried floor areas. Atsuage has far much less energy than Chinese language deep-fried tofu.

I used the massive items of Chinese language deep-fried tofu, however you possibly can in fact use atsuage (home-made or retailer purchased).

What’s in My Fried Tofu with Thick Mushroom Sauce (Mushroom Ankake)

• Deep-fried tofu, halved or quartered
• Asian mushrooms, reduce into 4-5cm/3⁄16-2″ lengthy items
• Carrot, reduce into 4-5cm/3⁄16-2″ lengthy batons
• Sesame oil

I used the Chinese language model of deep-fried tofu, which got here in massive cubes, however it’s best to make use of a Japanese-style deep-fried tofu referred to as atsuage if you will get it. You possibly can use tofu puffs as a substitute, however the dish turns into oilier and the feel of the tofu is kind of totally different.

The mushrooms may be any mixture of Asian mushrooms. I purchased a pack of blended mushrooms, which included shiitake, king oyster, enoki, and white pearl mushrooms.

Thick Sauce

• Dashi inventory
• Cooking sake
• Mirin
• Sugar
• Soy sauce
• Corn flour/cornstarch diluted in water

When you use vegetarian dashi inventory, it turns into a vegetarian dish.

Make Fried Tofu with Thick Mushroom Sauce (Mushroom Ankake)

You solely want one frying pan as we speak – prepare dinner and warmth up the deep-fried tofu first, then make a mushroom sauce after transferring the tofu to a plate.

1. Brown all sides of the deep-fried tofu items in a frying pan with sesame oil.
2. Switch the tofu to a serving plate.
3. Sauté all of the greens utilizing the identical frying pan till the greens are wilted.
4. Add all of the sauce elements, excluding corn flour/cornstarch, and convey it to a boil.
5. Add corn flour/cornstarch to the pan and blend properly. When the sauce thickens and begins boiling, flip the warmth off and pour the mushroom sauce over the tofu.

The perfect a part of Fried Tofu with Thick Mushroom Sauce (Mushroom Ankake) is the mix of crunchiness and engaging easy sauce stuffed with mushroom flavour. When you can, use atsuage as a result of it has much less energy than the Chinese language model of deep-fried tofu with extra protein.

Yumiko

Fried Tofu with Thick Mushroom Sauce (Mushroom Ankake)

Fried Tofu with Thick Mushroom Sauce is fabricated from simply greens, however it’s surprisingly filling and satisfying. The flavour of the Asian mushrooms within the thickened sauce makes the plain deep-fried tofu so tasty. Additionally it is an incredible vegetarian dish while you use a vegetarian dashi inventory.

Remember to see the part ‘MEAL IDEAS’ under the recipe card! It offers you an inventory of dishes that I’ve already posted and this recipe that may make up an entire meal. I hope it’s of assist to you.

Recipe Kind:

Principal

Delicacies:

Japanese

Key phrase:

Asian mushroom recipe, fried tofu, fried tofu recipes, sauteed mushroom recipes, vegan recipe, vegetarian

Serves: 2

Creator: Yumiko

Components (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)

• 300-330g/0.7lb
  deep-fried tofu
  (word 1)
• 200g/7oz
  Asian mushrooms
  (word 2)
• 20g/0.7oz
  carrot
  reduce into 3mm/⅛” vast, 4-5cm/3⁄16-2″ lengthy batons
• 1
  tbsp
  sesame oil

Thick Sauce

• 200ml/6.8fl oz
  dashi inventory
  (or 200ml /6.8fl ozwater + ⅓ tsp dashi powder, word 3)
• 1
  tbsp
  cooking sake
• 1
  tbsp
  mirin
• 1
  tsp
  sugar
• 1⅓
  tbsp
  soy sauce
• ½
  tbsp
  corn flour
  diluted in 2 tsp water

Directions

1. Minimize deep-fried tofu into bite-size cubes/cuboids (word 3).

Put together Mushrooms

1. Shiitake – take away the stem and slice thinly into 2mm/3⁄32″ thick items.

2. King oyster – reduce in half (or into 3) horizontally to about 4-5cm/3⁄16-2″ lengthy, then halve each bit lengthwise. Slice each bit lengthwise into 2mm/3⁄32″ thick items.

3. Enoki – take away the clustering half on the backside to separate every stem. Halve the size of the stem.

4. White pearl – shred every mushroom together with your palms into skinny strips.

Cook dinner Deep-fried Tofu

1. Warmth sesame oil in a frying pan over medium warmth.

2. Place the tofu items within the frying pan, going through the reduce aspect (tofu aspect, not the fried aspect) down.

3. Cook dinner the tofu for 4-5 minutes, throughout which flip the items 90 levels in order that the opposite reduce aspect faces down.

4. Proceed to prepare dinner for a pair extra minutes, turning the items over so that every one the perimeters are frivolously browned. Switch tofu to a serving plate.

Make Mushroom Ankake and Serve

1. Add greens to the pan and sauté for 3 minutes or so till the mushrooms begin wilting.

2. Add all of the Sauce elements, excluding corn flour/cornstarch, to the pan and convey it to a boil.

3. Cut back warmth to low and add the corn flour/cornstarch in a swirling movement and blend shortly. The sauce begins effervescent and thickens (word 4).

4. Pour the vegetable sauce over the deep-fried tofu and serve whereas the sauce is scorching.

Recipe Notes

1. There are totally different sorts of deep-fried tofu that you could purchase, and the scale of tofu additionally varies. The form of my deep-fried tofu was 4cm x 5cm x 5cm/3⁄16″ x 2″ x 2″ cuboid, and I wanted 6 of them. You may discover bigger deep-fried tofu, like my Residence-made Atsuage (Deep-fried Tofu). You should use both of them.

Deep-fried tofu is totally different from tofu puffs. In contrast to the deep-fried tofu, the tofu contained in the tofu puffs will not be dense and largely air bubbles. Though you could possibly make as we speak’s dish with tofu puffs, it is going to lack the tofu texture.

Basically, a bigger dimension of deep-fried tofu incorporates much less energy.

2. You should use any mixture of Asian mushrooms. I used shiitake, king oyster, enoki, and white pearl mushrooms.

3. My deep-fried tofu blocks wanted to be quartered. In case you are utilizing smaller blocks of Chinese language deep-fried tofu, you solely must halve every block. Within the case of atsuage, halve it lengthwise, then reduce the halved blocks into 1.5-2cm/⅝-¾” vast items perpendicular to the primary reduce.

4. The thickness of the sauce can fluctuate barely relying on the amount of liquid left within the pan, which is impacted by the scale of the pan and the power of the warmth.

It’s a good apply to not add the entire corn flour/cornstarch directly. Add it step by step and examine the thickness of the sauce. You could want lower than the required amount. If the sauce continues to be watery after including all of it, add extra corn flour/cornstarch diluted in water to the pan.

5. Vitamin per serving. When you use atsuage, the energy can be decrease.

serving: 241g energy: 527kcal fats: 38g (57%) saturated fats: 3.8g (19%) trans fats: 0g polyunsaturated fats: 2.6g monounsaturated fats: 10g ldl cholesterol: 76mg (25%) sodium: 788mg (33%) carbohydrates: 8.9g (3%) dietary fibre: 4.6g (18%) sugar: 0.1g protein: 36.4g vitamin a: 0mcg (0%) calcium: 35mg (3%) iron: 0.3mg (2%) potassium: 104mg (3%)