Agedashi Tofu

A simple yet scrumptious dish where the soft tofu is coated with corn flour or potato starch and deep-fried briefly. For the sauce, I have substitute the ingredients with those we can commonly find in our kitchen rather than using the shoyu(Japanese soy sauce), sake and mirin. Grated daikon is called for in this dish but I have totally omitted it to make the recipe simpler to cook. Add grated daikon, if desired (sauce on the right side of the photo with daikon added).

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 1 (300g) pack silken tofu
° corn flour or potato starch, for coating
° oil, for deep-frying
° 1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional), for deep-frying
° finely shredded spring onion, for garnish
° 2 thin slices ginger, finely chopped

Sauce
° 30ml water or dashi stock
° 1 teaspoon sugar
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° 5ml cooking rice wine

Method
1. To extract excess moisture of the tofu, wrap with a clean tea towel and place a plate on top of the tofu. Leave for about 15 minutes. Remove tofu from the towel, cut into 8 or 16 pieces and lightly coat the tofu with corn flour or potato starch.
2. Heat oil and sesame oil in a deep-fryer or wok over high heat or until a cube of bread dropped into the oil brown in few seconds. Deep fry tofu until lightly golden brown. Remove the tofu with a slotted spoon. Drain well on kitchen paper.
3. To make the sauce: add 30ml water with sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. Stir in cooking rice wine, light soy sauce and ginger.
4. Transfer the tofu to a serving plate and garnish spring onion. Drizzle the sauce over the tofu or serve as dipping sauce. Serve immediately.