Hansuke-dofu (Tofu Simmered with Grilled Eel Heads)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 40 min
- Level
- Medium
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 7
About this dish
Hansuke-dofu is an Osaka simmer of grilled tofu with hansuke, the cooked heads left after preparing kabayaki eel.
Read more
Dashi, soy sauce, sugar, and sake draw the concentrated roasted eel flavor into the tofu. The dish is associated with the resourceful cooking of a merchant city that made use of an inexpensive by-product. Hansuke mainly seasons the broth rather than serving as a bite, so all hard bones are removed before the tofu and green onion are served. Fully cooked eel kabayaki can replace hard-to-find heads, though it produces a lighter stock.
Ingredients
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Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Heat
Cut 360g grilled tofu into eight rectangles measuring about 3 by 4 by 2cm.
Cut 30g green onion into 3cm lengths.
- 2Season
Set 100g fully cooked eel heads in a sieve and slowly pour over 500ml boiling water to rinse excess sauce and fat.
Remove visible sharp fins and loose bone fragments with tweezers.
- 3Control
Bring 200ml dashi, sugar, soy sauce, and sake to a simmer in a clay or wide pot.
Add tofu in one layer, cover with a damp paper lid, and simmer over medium-low for 12 minutes.
- 4Finish
Nestle eel heads into the broth and simmer on low for 8 minutes, adding onion for the final 2 minutes.
Remove every head, strain broth through a fine sieve to exclude hard bones, and serve only tofu, onion, and strained broth.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- Rich broth from fully cooked eel heads
- Finish cue
- Nestle eel heads into the broth and simmer on low for 8 minutes, adding onion for the final 2 minutes.
- Substitution
- Fully cooked eel kabayaki can replace hard-to-find heads, though it produces a lighter stock.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official cooking and food safety guidance.
This recipe
40min, 7 ingredients
Category median
48min, 8 ingredients
Based on 247 recipes
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