Monday, March 2, 2009

Tofu "Fish" Sticks

Even though I've been vegetarian for many years, I still have cravings for some of the meat and fish dishes I grew up with. Who didn't have those frozen deep-fried fish sticks growing up? They were one of my favorite meals as a kid! Throw in some french fries and some coleslaw and that's one kid-friendly meal. Here's my take on a vegan version of those fish sticks.

Ingredients:
1 block of extra firm tofu (350g), frozen, then thawed and excess water gently squeezed out

Tofu marinade--
2 T tamari sauce (or good aged soy sauce)
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T white wine vinegar
2 T lemon juice

Breading--
1/4 cup fine bread crumbs
1T lemon zest
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup soy milk
1/4 cup all purpose flour

Vegan tartar sauce--
3 T vegan mayonnaise
1 T sweet green relish
1/4 tsp dried dill

4T sunflower oil
1 lemon

Method:
Place marinade ingredients into a medium wide-bottomed bowl and whisk until combined. Cut tofu in half across width and then cut diagonally. Slice triangles into 1/2" thick slices. Place tofu triangles into marinade and soak until all marinade is absorbed by all the tofu. Be gentle when swooshing marinade over the tofu, being careful not to break the triangles.

Set up a breading station: take 3 pie plates and fill one with the flour, one with the soy milk and one with the breading ingredients. Mix the breading ingredients until evenly distributed. Dredge the tofu first in the flour, then the soy milk and then the breading. Set aside.

Cover the bottom of a heavy bottomed frying pan with sunflower oil and heat to medium high. When hot and rippling, place the breaded tofu into the oil and brown on both sides until nice and crispy, about 3 minutes on each side. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Combine the tartar sauce ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Cut up the lemon into wedges for sprinkling on the "fish" sticks when serving. Serve the tofu "fish" sticks with the vegan tartar sauce and enjoy!!

6 comments:

  1. I canNOT wait to try this!! Yay! :D

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  2. This looks delicious! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Yay- I found your site :) Food looks GOOD!

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  4. Thanks! I'm all about satisfying the random cravings these days! :-)

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  5. I'm looking forward to trying this. I'm so glad to find that I'm not the only one who has these cravings.

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