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Vietnamese Fried Tofu with Green Onion Sauce

July 15, 2021 by Lisa Le 3 Comments

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This Vietnamese fried tofu dish is reminiscent of agedashi tofu, but with Vietnamese flavours instead! It’s a Northern Vietnamese dish that’s new to me, and introduced to me by Sophie from The Delightful Plate.

Fried tofu with green onion sauce, green mango salad, and fried rice

This tofu dish (Đậu phụ rán tẩm hành) is a wonderful texture: soft tender tofu with a crispy outer crust. The sauce is a savoury broth with green onion oil and enhanced with some vegan fish sauce! It’s rich and light, and so delicious in this Vietnamese style bento box (video coming soon).

Lately I’ve been finding I’ve been struggling to eat much of any mock meats because the smell of them is just too meaty. I’m about 17 weeks pregnant (also, surprise! I didn’t really announce here but I did announce it on Instagram/Facebook), and as a result, my first trimester consisted of a lot of trial and error of trying to decipher what triggers my nausea.

tofu frying in a pot of oil

As a result, I’ve switched to eating a lot more tofu and beans (mostly tofu via vegan egg salad or simply fried tofu, and a lot of Heinz tomato baked beans haha). I’ve also been grabbing tofu from Thanh Son Tofu in Mississauga anytime I’m in the area and that tofu is like golden nuggets of deliciousness, I eat those like candy, they’re SO GOOD. But unfortunately I don’t live a stones-throw away from them anymore so I don’t have it as often as I used to.

Something I’ve missed a lot is agedashi tofu. It’s a Japanese version of tofu that is a lot like this: there’s a diluted savoury broth that the fried tofu sits in, and is topped with some green onions and sometimes shaved daikon/radish.

Fried tofu draining on paper towel

This dish makes me feel like it’s the Vietnamese version of agedashi tofu, but with the Vietnamese trio of vegan fish sauce, broth, and green onions. It’s delicious, savoury, and piping hot fried tofu is always a delicious time.

I made this dish for a Vietnamese bento box (granted, the tofu is better freshly fried, but so long as you’re eating the tofu within a couple hours, it’s still delicious in the bento!)

Bento Box from above with fried tofu, sauce, green mango salad, and fried rice layers

According to Sophie, this tofu dish originates from Northern Vietnam, which makes a lot of sense to me because I had never seen it in my family’s cooking or whenever I’ve been back to Saigon or Hue (granted I haven’t been back since 2009).

I can’t deny it’s delicious and such a great marriage of textures and flavours. It’s a bit of work to fry all the tofu (I’m sure you could also do this with airfried tofu) but there’s something magical about deep fried crispy tofu!

Recipe adapted from The Delightful Plate

fried tofu with sauce in a bento box with green mango salad, fried rice on the side
Print Recipe

Vietnamese Fried Tofu with Green Onion Sauce

Prep Time15 minutes mins
Cook Time30 minutes mins
Additional Time5 minutes mins
Total Time50 minutes mins
Course: Appetizers & Sides
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Servings: 4 servings
Author: Lisa Le

Ingredients

For the tofu

  • 350 G medium tofu*** cut into 1 inch cubes or 1/2 inch slices
  • A medium pot of oil ~3 inches of oil

For the Sauce

  • 2 green onions finely sliced
  • 2 tbsp very hot vegetable oil I use the oil from frying the tofu
  • 2 tbsp vegan fish sauce
  • 1 tsp mushroom broth powder
  • 6 tbsp hot water I use off-boil water to dissolve the broth powder, but you can also just use hot vegetable broth

Instructions

  • Over medium heat, preheat a large pot of oil (about 3 inches of oil, please use a high-sided pot as the tofu will bubble vigorously when frying). Aim for medium heat, about 350F (180C).
  • While the oil is preheating, drain your tofu and then let dry on a lint-free tea towel. The tofu I prefer for this is quite soft, so you have to be gentle, but I like to pat the tofu dry. Flip the tofu occasionally on the tea towel to get the surface as dry as possible (will facilitate in better frying, and it won’t bubble as vigorously in the oil). Let drain until oil is preheated.
  • Meanwhile, in a heat-safe mixing bowl, add your green onions. Pour 2 tbsp of the hot oil from the pot over the onions, and mix to wilt the onions. Add vegan fish sauce, mushroom broth powder, and hot water and mix to combine. Taste to check seasoning, it should be like a salty broth, but not overpoweringly salty.
  • Once the oil is ready to fry, add tofu 3-4 pieces at the time, flipping until golden and fried evenly. Try not to overcrowd the pot because the tofu will stick to each other before they develop the fried crust. Once golden, drain on a paper-towel lined plate. Fry all the tofu, then transfer them to a plate with a shallow lip.
  • To serve, pour a small amount of the sauce on each piece of tofu (ideally while still hot), and serve the tofu alongside a small bowl of this sauce to dip in.

Notes

***Asian markets will sell medium firm tofu that is soft, this is the best one, but Canadian brand tofu you’ll want a medium soft tofu, but medium works too
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Filed Under: Appetizers & Sides, Vegan recipes, Vietnamese Tagged With: fried tofu, tofu, vietnamese fried tofu, vietnamese tofu

About Lisa Le

Lisa is the thirty-something, nerdy, procrastinating, feminist blogger and photographer behind The Viet Vegan. She loves spicy foods, noodles, and food in bowls.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Catherine Singelsether says

    February 3, 2023 at 11:46 AM

    My mom tells me to always soak my tofu in salty water before I use it. She says it has vinegar, or something you have to get rid of. I see you don’t do this. I don’t know if organic tofu you don’t have to salt it first. Salt also gets the water out of it so it’s more crispy when you fry

    Reply
  2. Barbie says

    July 11, 2023 at 10:41 AM

    Hi there! Looks delicious! I would love to make it with the noodle and rice dishes you have in the picture. Are those recipes posted somewhere also?
    Thank you!
    Barbie

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      July 29, 2023 at 9:51 PM

      They’re all on my website! This bento box was from a video on my YouTube channel, you can find the fried rice here, and the mango salad here!

      Reply

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