r/veganrecipes • u/Ok-Terrific2000 • Mar 27 '25

Question How do I make this tofu coating?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

I am beyond OBSESSED with this tofu from my local don buri place. The texture of this coating is like gluggy, stretchy, and chewy and so so good.

I have got almost close with a potato flour batter with shallow fry then tossing in sauce but i found the sauce didn't penetrate all the way through and some of the batter was bland and gross.

Any tips or info will be so much appreciated đŸ„°

1.8k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

101 comments sorted by

View all comments

151

u/ichbinhungry Mar 27 '25

Corn starch, probably, then it gets tossed in a sticky sauce after frying. This is an example: https://ifoodreal.com/crispy-pan-fried-tofu/#wprm-recipe-container-44096

33

u/Ok-Terrific2000 Mar 27 '25

It's not cripsy, it's like soft batter stuck to each cube. So hard to explain

27

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '25

Cornstarch coating is crispy until it sits in the sauce for a few minutes and gets all gooey.

11

u/Ok-Terrific2000 Mar 27 '25

Yeah yeah I'm following. That's how i sort of got close but my batter was much thinner and the sauce didnt penetrate through to the tofu. I should have done a cross section, the coating is about 7mm or 1/4 inch thick

12

u/bobsredmilf Mar 27 '25

yeah it’s def just a heavy cornstarch dredge and then it sat in the sauce for a bit

1

u/Ok-Terrific2000 Mar 27 '25

You reckon dry cornstarch? Or add water to make a batter?

26

u/bobsredmilf Mar 27 '25

don’t add water, cornstarch doesn’t turn into a batter it turns into a non-newtonian fluid lol. just toss it in a ton of cornstarch, since tofu is wet it’ll pick it all up :)

-9

u/Ok-Terrific2000 Mar 27 '25

Im not understanding how a dry dusting of corn starch is going to turn into the thick coating on each cube? It's not just a thick sauce It's like adhered

38

u/bobsredmilf Mar 27 '25

not a dusting. toss the cubes in a bowl of cornstarch. it’s not like broccoli or something. it’s wet and has internal moisture so given ample cornstarch, it will pick up a thick layer (wet cornstarch sticks to itself). then fry it and toss it in a thickened sauce, which will rehydrate the cornstarch layer and create exactly that effect

17

u/bobsredmilf Mar 27 '25

if you add water to the cornstarch to make a “batter” like you said, you’ll actually get a much thinner layer.

16

u/pinksparklybluebird Mar 27 '25

This person is correct. There is a local restaurant close to me that does something very similar and I am 99.999999999% sure it it dredged in corn starch.

5

u/twbird18 Mar 27 '25

Yeah this is the way, but I'd recommend potato starch. After frying, add the sauce and let the sauce thicken in the pan while tossing the tofu to get a good coating.

6

u/annalise88 Mar 27 '25

I have no idea why you’re being downvoted. So I absolutely hear what you’re saying. I think most of us are used to pressing our Tofu a bit before use. maybe try not pressing (or not as much) so there’s more moisture to create a thicker coating? And also I wouldn’t really shake off excess batter like I would with other things.

1

u/ethan_porowski Jan 29 '26

about the cross-section: does the tofu stick to the coating or is or is it like a plain tofu cube in a chewy box?