With just tofu and dashi kombu, you can enjoy this warm, protein-rich and nourishing vegetarian dish at home. If you’d like, you can also bulk it up with vegetables, mushrooms or other ingredients. Possibly the easiest tofu dish to make at home!
If you’re looking for a new way to enjoy tofu besides adding it in miso soup or hot pot, this simple and vegan-friendly dish called Hot Tofu, or Yudofu (湯豆腐) in Japanese, might be your new go-to menu! Yudofu is light and healthy, and it comes handy when you are looking for a comforting warm dish that you can prepare in a few minutes!
How to Prepare Hot Tofu (Yudofu)
This dish is unbelievably easy and the only ingredients you need are just kombu and tofu. Just make a savory umami-rich broth using kombu and then add some tofu in the broth. Yes, that’s it!
If you’re not sure what kombu is, you can read a little bit more about this ingredient. You can get the kombu in the Japanese isle of typical Asian markets so hopefully, you are able to find it easily. If you don’t have an Asian market nearby, you can order online as well.
Of course you are welcome to add any vegetables to add extra nutrition and color; however, today I kept it simple by adding Japanese herbs called Mitsuba to enjoy the simple flavor of tofu. It would be best if you can purchase fresh tofu or make your own tofu!
How to Enjoy Hot Tofu (Yudofu)
How do you eat it? There are many sauces that go well with warm tofu. You can use soy sauce, ponzu, sesame sauce, or sauce made with miso. Today I made a special soy sauce-based sauce with bonito flakes (katsuobushi) to add more dashi flavor instead of just soy sauce (this sauce is not vegetarian). I also sprinkle scallions and shichimi togarashi (Japanese 7 flavor chili pepper).
This can be an appetizer, side dish, or simply a meal on its own. If you want to add meat, try Shabu Shabu and Sukiyaki. Enjoy!
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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- 1 medium-firm tofu (in the US it’s called “regular” tofu, which is between silken and firm, momen tofu)
- Mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (or any green vegetable you like for color)
- 2 inch kombu (dried kelp)
- 1 Tbsp sake
- ¼ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sake
- 1 tsp mirin
- ½ cup katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) (Pack loosely; 3 g or 1 pack)
- Green onion/scallion (Finely chopped)
- ginger (grated,optional)
- Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese seven spice) (optional)
- yuzu kosho (optional)
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Remove any dust or particles on kombu with a damp cloth (Never wash under running water!) but leave the white powdery substances which contribute to the umami flavor in the stock.
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In donabe (Japanese clay pot), put dashi kombu and pour water till 70% full. Let the kombu soak for 1-2 hours. Or you can soak the kombu while cooking on the lowest heat for 15 minutes if you are in a hurry.
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Meanwhile, make the sauce. Put sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan.
- When boiling, add bonito flakes (katsuobushi).
- Mix well with chopsticks and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Pour the sauce into a small serving dish. You don’t have to strain; it’s okay if some bonito flakes go into the sauce.
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These leftover bonito flakes have a nice flavor and you can use it as filling for Okaka Onigiri.
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When the kombu dashi stock is ready (after 1-2 hours), bring the stock to a boil on medium-high heat. Once boiling, add sake and salt.
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When boiling again, cut the tofu to any size you like (whole tofu, halves, 6 pieces, etc) and put it in the kombu dashi stock.
- When tofu is heated through, add mitsuba. If you plan to use other vegetables, make sure are they cooked thoroughly.
- Serve with the sauce and toppings of your choice while the tofu is hot.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Another delicious recipe to try as soon as possible. Could be tomorrow… I’m getting addicted to your Just One Cookbook. Such a delicious habit.
Thanks Nami! Have a lovely trip
Thank you for your kind words, Serena! I hope you will enjoy this dish. 🙂
Looks good! Have you ever made ikasumi spaghetti?
Thank you, Jonathan! No, I haven’t tried making it at home, although I love ikasumi pasta. Maybe one day… 🙂
Looks delicious; though I have to point out that it’s not actually vegetarian. Bonito flakes are dried, fermented and smoked skipjack tuna, and fish isn’t vegetarian. If you need a term for it what you’re looking for is pescetarian, which is vegetarian but includes seafood in the diet.
Hi Anders! Thank you for pointing that out. I meant the main dish Hot Tofu (yudofu) is vegetarian, and choices of sauces and toppings are up to you. There are many condiments available for this dish (miso, ponzu, soy sauce, like I mentioned in the post). I updated with “(optional)” in the recipe to avoid confusing. Thank you so much for letting me know! 🙂
Hi Nami
Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for another lovely recipe. Is kombu and dashi kombu the same in taste?
Thanks.
Caroline
Thank you Caroline!
Kombu is a For making dashi stock, you need to buy a product called “dashi Kombu”. There are many kombu products, but dried one is “dashi kombu”. Hope this helps. 🙂
This was so good, and my three year old loved it! She asked for seconds, then thirds
Hi Kristi! I’m so happy to hear you and your three year old daughter enjoyed this! It’s one of my son’s all time favorite dishes too. 🙂 Thank you for your feedback!
What is the purpose of the kombu? Is it just to flavor the water and create the kombu dashi? I don’t know much about cooking, but I would love to learn more.
Hi Connor! Kombu here is to make kombu dashi for this tofu dish. Think of it as chicken stock in many western dishes. Instead, in Japanese cooking, we use dashi and we have different types (more here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to/how-to-make-dashi-jiru/).
If you cook tofu in a regular water… it’s flavorless. Kombu has lots of umami in it, and gives so much subtle delicious flavor to this dish.
Please feel free to ask me any question! I’ll be happy to help and thanks for being interested in Japanese cooking!
Lovely vegan recipe *_* Nami-san, what’s the name of that lovely tree pronged bamboo utensil? Thank you very much for your time🙏🏻🍀♥️
Hi Ryuzan! Thank you so much! It’s called Tofu Sashi (豆腐刺し), and it’s used to poke and pick up Tofu. 🙂