SETH: Anna.

Nice to meet you.

ANNA: Nice to meet you Seth.

SETH: This is an absolutely beautiful space.

ANNA: Thank you so much.

SETH: I'm really excited to be here.

Uh what are you making today?

ANNA: Okay we're going to make uh Korean fried chicken today.

SETH: Okay well Korean fried chicken.

I've had that before and I love it uh but what I'm looking at in these bowls is definitely not chicken, uh what is it?

ANNA: That's right.

This is extra firm tofu and we're going to make a Korean fried chicken, plant-based.

SETH: Well plant-based that's definitely a welcome change of pace and I see uh what look like maybe two different types of tofu?

ANNA: These are actually same tofu.

This is fresh tofu.

This is the frozen tofu I thawed.

The reason I freeze, I try to make a tofu is a meat-like consistency.

So when you freeze tofu, the water pocket expands in the freezer so when you squeeze you see how it become porous so the texture is very different from the fresh one.

SETH: That's got to probably help absorb some of the flavors you're putting in as well.

ANNA: That's right.

Mm-hmm.

SETH: So how do you put the rest of the dish together?

ANNA: Okay.

All Korean fried chicken is glazed with the gochujang glaze.

It's a red chili paste.

It's a fermented condiment.

So this is the gochujang.

This is ketchup.

This is some olive oil and this is agave.

And then I'm going to mix it up.

SETH: So you get that nice balance of flavors with the heat from the gochujang paste and the sweetness of the agave.

ANNA: The sweetness uh-huh.

And then the ketchup gives you some acidity too.

SETH: Oh nice.

ANNA: So now our glaze all made.

We're going to fry our Korean fried chicken so just follow me.

SETH: Sounds great.

All right well I see a pot with a lot of hot oil there and it looks like this tofu has already been fried.

ANNA: Yeah in a starch and coconut milk batter.

Breaded in panko and give it a first fry.

SETH: So now you're going to do a second fry with this?

ANNA: Yes.

Let's do it.

SETH: And what does the second fry help do?

ANNA: So I like to have a crisp texture when you have a bite on it and that's the critical part of a Korean fried chicken.

SETH: Right 'cause every time I've had Korean fried chicken it's so much crispier than any American fried chicken I've ever had.

ANNA: That's right.

SETH: So you're just looking to get kind of a nice golden brown on this?

ANNA: We just try to find a right hues, right color.

Okay after let it fry couple more minutes, the final thing we're going to do is, we're going to toss this into the gochujang glaze we made earlier.

And then we're going to drizzle some home-made tahini sauce on top of the dish.

And to finish the dish we're going to plate it with some rice and some pickled daikon, and then we'll be ready to enjoy.

SETH: All right chef, should I put one of these on my plate and just dig in?

ANNA: Yeah, yeah.

When you have a bite, usually you have this one right next to you.

SETH: And this is the pickled radish?

ANNA: The pickled daikon yeah.

How do you like it?

SETH: That is outstanding.

That tofu, I guess it comes from the freezing it and thawing it.

ANNA: Right.

SETH: That really does have a nice, meaty texture to it.

ANNA: People doesn't know if you don't say this is tofu.

SETH: It does have that crunch that you expect with Korean fried chicken.

ANNA: Mm-hmm.

Right.

SETH: And I like too, there's definitely a bit of kick with that uh gochujang glaze as well.

ANNA: Right.

Gochujang glaze, yeah.

SETH: It's nice and spicy.

Going to have a little radish to uh clear my palate before the next bite.

ANNA: Mm-hmm.

SETH: And uh I want to try some of this rice here too.

ANNA: That rice has some crushed seaweed and then crushed sesame seeds which is the most basic thing Korean food has.

SETH: And besides the rice too I see some uh some other beautiful vegetables here.

ANNA: Sure.

I brought some of our kimchi, this is the napa cabbage kimchi, this is the original kimchi and this is the cucumber kimchi.

Many of my customers love it because it has the perfect acidity to clean the palate, especially when you have fried food.

SETH: It's so refreshing too.

ANNA: Mm-hmm.

SETH: And these vegetables, this tofu it feels so appropriate you know walking into this space, I feel like I came into this sort of mini garden of Eden.

ANNA: What I want my customer to feel when they get into our place.

I want them to have a certain serenity and when they go out they think about it, what they can do for our planet.

SETH: And it's fitting too here in Takoma Park because that's kind of the whole energy of the neighborhood right?

ANNA: This couldn't be achieved without our Takoma Park community's help we wouldn't be standing here.

SETH: I have to say chef, when you told me you were making Korean fried chicken with tofu, I was a little bit skeptical.

ANNA: I understand.

SETH: But clearly I had no reason to be.

This was really delicious.

Thank you so much.

ANNA: Thank you so much.