Crispy Baked Tofu

I love tofu and I try to eat it between one and three times per week. There is a fair amount of anti-soy hype, which much like the anti-gluten hype, I mainly just ignore. I believe in listening to how our individual bodies respond to what we feed them and following that “internal advice” first and foremost in all things. Of course, I do read assorted health and nutritional studies, and I am very careful to buy non-gmo and organic as much as possible.

I’ve been eating tofu since I was 16 and have found a ton of really satisfying ways to prepare it. This crispy baked version is one of my favourites. I used to use an egg bath prior to applying the coating, but eggs aren’t something I consume anymore, and I now use a chickpea batter in their place.

Marinaded tofu, chickpea bath, breading mixture.

Marinade:

• Vegan BBQ Sauce, teryaki or other sauce you enjoy
• Onion Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Agave Nectar
• Low Sodium Soy Sauce
• Liquid smoke (optional, but delicious)
• Water
• Any other flavours which appeal to you (be creative, it’s your mouth that’s going to be eating this)

How to Marinade:

1. Cut some pressed tofu (pressed under a heavy object for 20 minutes to remove extra water) into slices, cubes, triangles or whatever shape most appeals to you, then place in a container with a lid.
2. Mix the marinade ingredients together until they reach a flavour profile and texture which appeals to you.
3. Pour the marinade over your pressed tofu and leave marinade for a minimum of twenty  minutes (I usually marinade overnight)

Coating:

• Chickpea flour
• Breadcrumbs
• Wholewheat flour
• Cornmeal (optional)
• Brown rice flour (optional)
• Sea salt
• Seasonings/herbs
• Water

How to Make the Chickpea Bath:

1. Add chickpea flour to one cup of water  and whisk until it is the consistency of runny pancake batter or whisked egg. This usually takes about 1/8 of a cup of the chickpea flour, but it’s really an intuitive process and you should be able to tell by feel how you’re doing.
2. Add any seasonings you with to the bath (I used a touch of sea salt and a touch of Chinese Five Spice in mine).
3. Set aside.

How to Make the Breading Mixture:

1. Add equal parts of wholewheat flour, and bread crumbs to a bowl, mix in  your cornmeal and brown rice flour if you’re using them.
2. Add any seasonings you wish. I just added some fresh ground pepper and a touch of sea salt.
3. Pour well mixed ingredients onto a plate and set aside.

How to Put it all Together:

Pre-baking breaded tofu. I make the cubes for supper, and the slabs for making sandwiches during the upcoming week.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment.

1. Drain tofu of marinade.
2. Dip each tofu piece into the chickpea bath, shake off excess bath.
3. Dip and roll each piece in your breading mixture.
4. Place pieces one by one onto cookie sheet.
5. Spray each piece with a fine mist of cooking spray or oil (I have a refillable oil misting bottle).
6. Cook in oven 15 minutes, turn over, spray again then repeat cooking for an additional 15 minutes.

As you can see, my cooking process is usually quite intuitive, which makes recipes hard to share, but once you figure out the basic techniques, there is so much fun to be had with creating new meals.

I served this with brown rice steamed with both dried and fresh diced mushrooms, a vinegar marinaded cucumber salad (marinade is 1/8 c rice vinegar, a splash of agave, a touch of sea-salt, 1 cup water and a bunch of dill), and a pile of stir-fried carrots and zucchini. A very simple but very satisfying meal on a summer day. Tofu prepared this way is reminiscent of baked chicken, without the cruelty and cholesterol.

Tofu is rapidly becoming one of the things I cook which my mom looks forward to trying. A year ago she would run the other way if I told her I was serving tofu.

Marbled Banana Bread | via Post Punk Kitchen | Vegan Baking & Vegan Cooking

Marbled Banana Bread.

I made this according to the recipe last week and it was REALLY excellent. Not even the sternest omnivore would find a thing wrong with this banana bread, nor would they even think to suspect that it’s vegan.

This week I made a few adjustments to make this a little more in alignment with my personal eating habits. I switched out half of the flour for whole wheat pastry flour, and I cut out roughly 1/4 of the sugar called for. Guess what? It’s still damn amazing banana bread, and it’s really pretty as well. I didn’t do as nice a job of marbling my loaf this week, but it tastes pretty amazing regardless.

The next time I make it I will swap out all of the white flour and I’ll try cutting out an additional 1/4 cup of sugar (not because it’s too sweet tasting, but because I really try to keep my refined sugar usage down to a tiny sprinkle for the most part).

Marbled Banana Bread | Post Punk Kitchen | Vegan Baking & Vegan Cooking. (click this link for the recipe)

ps. I was initially introduced to this recipe through reading the below linked post by luminousvegans.wordpress.com. Check out their blog for lots of great recipes, it’s rapidly becoming a favourite of mine.  The internet and vegan bloggers are an amazing resource for people like myself who are learning how to eat both healthier and more ethically.

Related articles

• These count as breakfast, right? (luminousvegans.wordpress.com)

Vegan Recipe: Falafel Sliders – YouTube

This recipe sounds amazing. Falafel is TOTALLY one of my favourite foods of all time. I’m constantly looking for a low fat/oil falafel recipe which has the right texture to totally fullfill my craving.

“Falafel Sliders with Avocado Hummus
Serves 4

Make-Ahead Tip:
Uncooked Falafel Sliders can be made in advance and kept refrigerated until ready to cook. Tahini Sauce can be made in advance and kept refrigerated.

FALAFEL SLIDERS
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained, divided
½ red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, quartered
5 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
½ cup packed fresh Italian parsley
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ cup garbanzo flour (or other flour of choice)
2 tablespoons olive oil

AVOCADO HUMMUS
¼ cup chickpeas, reserved from sliders
1 avocado, pitted and peeled
1/3 cup packed fresh Italian parsley
¼ cup olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne

TAHINI SAUCE
½ cup tahini
½ cup water
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt

14 mini buns or dinner rolls sliced in half, toasted
2 small tomatoes, thinly sliced

To make the Falafel Sliders: Reserve ¼ cup chickpeas for the Avocado Hummus. Place remaining chickpeas, onions, garlic, tomatoes, parsley, cumin, coriander, salt, and flour in a food processor and pulse until combined, stopping frequently to scrape down sides. Using the palms of your hands, form mixture into 2-inch by ½-inch patties.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and pan-fry patties in batches, letting cook about 3 to 5 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Do not crowd the pan. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

To make the Avocado Hummus: Combine ¼ cup chickpeas, avocado, parsley, oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne in food processor and puree. Adjust seasoning to taste.

To make the Tahini Sauce: Puree tahini, water, garlic, lemon juice, and salt until smooth.

To serve: Layer the Falafel Sliders, Avocado Hummus, Tahini Sauce, and sliced tomato on the buns.”

 

Source:

Vegan Recipe: Falafel Sliders – YouTube.

The Problem With Low Fat Vegan Baking (and my solution).

Recently I’ve tested a number of low-fat plant based recipes for baked goods which have just totally flopped when it came time to taste test. The really annoying part is that the description and accompanying photos in the cookbooks have been very misleading and it’s been a HUGE disappointment as they have been recipes by well-respected vegan cookbook authors and or bloggers.

Making a recipe plant-based, whole food and low fat is not enough, it also has to stand up to quality/taste tests. I’m not going to be able to encourage my friends and family to make a change toward compassionate and healthy eating habits with recipes which are only suited to being thrown away. Seriously, if a muffin isn’t good enough to sell, you shouldn’t be publishing the recipe and selling it to your fans.

My solution is simple, I’m going to take my previous experience of baking omni muffins and other baked goods six days a week for three years in a busy cappuccino bar and add some science and some research and create my own recipes. This will be a long process, but at the end of it, I should have a good collection of low fat, whole foods, plant based recipes which I will eventually publish as a cookbook.

Over the warm months this blog will mainly revolve around cold dishes as I don’t use my oven during the summer, but I will make up for that with tons of research and lots of amazing salad and smoothie ideas which I’ll share and post. I’ll also keep you all informed about my research into understanding the science behind baking and probably a lot of random stories about my weiner dog.

Life is good.

Last Night’s Supper and Today’s Happy Sprouts.

The Happy Herbivore Abroad’s Carolina Casserole interpreted by me. (I had no black eyed peas, so I used romano beans).

Last night I decided to try out another of the Happy Herbivore’s recipes (I have and use all but her newest book) and this one was a winner for sure. I would like to try this with kale in place of the collards (my mom and boyfriend both find collards a touch bitter) and perhaps a bit more tomato, as the cornbread topping sucked up a little more of the tomato sauce than I would have liked. However, this is still a really tasty dish, and was a snap to throw together. I’ll certainly be keeping this one handy and will post updates if I come up with any really awesome and exceptionally tasty ideas for this dish (I pull apart and rebuild recipes on a regular basis, so this recipe won’t survive without being tweaked to our household’s tastes).

My Happy Sprouts 🙂

I’m not sure what your grocery budget looks like, but mine is TINY. One of the ways that I help meet our nutritional needs is by sprouting. I LOVE kitcheny-stuff which is half cooking, half grade four science class and sprouting is indeed a bit of both.

Sprouts are terrific thrown in all sorts of things and it’s fun knowing that even in the coldest part of winter part of our meal was grown by me.

Whole Wheat Almond Raisin Cinnamon Buns

Whole wheat almond cinnamon buns.

I made some whole wheat cinnamon buns for us this evening and all in all they were not bad. I’m still looking for a recipe for these which is satisfying and decadent without being crazy sugary and greasy. I’ll post future attempts and recipes as well. I’d also love (and credit you for it) to try out any of YOUR recipes, although if they contain animal products (eggs, dairy, honey etc), I will have to tweak them to make them fit into my eating regimen.