Chow Vegan

Chicken-Fried Tofu

June 6, 2008 By chow 27 Comments

Chicken-fried steak and I go way back. I have fond memories of making and eating them at my grandparents’ place as a youngster. Not so much the eating of the meat part, but the whole experience of visiting the kitchen of my grandparents’ Chinese and American food cafe.

While I haven’t had chicken-fried steak for many, many years now, I thought I could apply the same cooking method to tofu. Chicken-fried doesn’t actually have chicken in it; it’s a cutlet, battered and fried in a skillet like fried chicken, hence the name. Except I’m baking mine for a healthier version, it still came out very tasty and nostalgic.

Chicken-Fried Tofu
Makes 8 pieces

1 pound fresh firm tofu
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Old Bay seasoning
Salt

Cut the tofu into 1/4″ slices and wrap in paper towels. Place a weight on top for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a shallow bowl, combine the nutritional yeast and breadcrumbs and mix well. Dip the tofu slices in the soy sauce and place in the breadcrumbs mixture, coat well on both sides. Place coated pieces on a oiled baking pan.

Season to taste with Old Bay and salt. Bake for 15 minutes, turn over, season and bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown and crisp. Serve immediately with creamy gravy on the side.

Creamy Gravy
Makes 1 cup

1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup soy milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Poultry seasonings (a mix of sage, oregano, rosemary, basil, thyme and salt) to taste

In a saucepan, melt the butter then add the flour. Whisk the flour and butter together to form a roux. Add the soy milk gradually, whisking constantly until smooth and lump free. Lower the heat and continue stirring until the gravy reaches desired thickness. If necessary, thin with a bit more soy milk. Add the salt and pepper and poultry seasonings to taste. Stir to combine and serve.

Tofu Robots

June 3, 2008 By chow 3 Comments

Tofu Robots are my kitchen slaves. Just tell them what you want to eat and they will turn tofu into scrumptious, mouth-watering, culinary delights to tempt your taste buds.

If only it was true.

I can’t figure out how to make the Tofu Robots go. Why won’t they work? They just stand there, mocking me with a “cook-your-own-darn-tofu” look about them. I guess I’m stuck making my own dinner.

Inspired to create a fun, cute Japanese style food character, Kazuko Shinoka designed Tofu Robot for Spicy Brown. The premier extra firm Tofu Robot first appeared on the scene in the summer of 2005.

The 4″ tall vinyl robot now comes in two more ready-to-serve forms, medium and soft. Besides toys, Spicy Brown also serves up a full t-shirt line of food-inspired characters from tofu to sushi to miso soup and beyond.

Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Chips

May 31, 2008 By chow 11 Comments

Earlier this month, I posted about Spicy Baked Potato Chips. Crystal over at The Modern Vegetarian commented about using sweet potatoes in the recipe. I thought that was a great idea and finally got around to trying it.

I prefer the chips to sweet potato fries. I’ve tried the fries both in restaurants and the frozen kind. For all I know, the restaurant kind could have been using the frozen kind. Anyways, the chips are a bit firmer and not so floppy and greasy.

The sweet potatoes I had on hand were on the small size, it’s probably better to find bigger ones that are more uniform in size, so they’ll cook more evenly. That and a mandoline would have been very helpful as thinner slices would make for a crisper chip.

Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Chips
Serves 1

2 small or 1 large sweet potato
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Peel the sweet potatoes and thinly slice crosswise into 3/8 inch thick slices. The more uniform the slices, the better. If you have a mandoline, use it.

Place the sweet potato slices in a bowl. Add the olive oil, cayenne pepper and salt to taste and mix well. Spread the slices out on a baking pan in a single layer. Bake about 12 minutes on each side. Carefully checking to make sure the smaller or thinner pieces don’t burn (that’s why it’s better to have uniform shape and thickness). Serve immediately with your favorite condiment.

Ranch Dip

I made just enough ranch dip to try with the chips. I had a tiny bit of fresh silken tofu left over in the fridge and a very sad looking half of a lemon. I kinda just winged it, so I don’t have the measurements to write out a proper recipe for the dip.

Basically, it’s just silken tofu, lemon juice, onion powder, dried parsley, and salt. Add everything to taste in a bowl and whisk until it looks like a dip. The key is taste testing and adding small amounts until it comes out to your liking.