Double Chocolate Tofu Donuts

 Kicked off the Thanksveganing day of cooking and eating with a bit of a dabble into baking - this recipe seemed worth a shot!

Recipe

• 1 pack silken tofu, drained
• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1/4 c sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 c cocoa powder
• (dark) chocolate bar for topping

Mash up the tofu. Mix up the dry ingredients (flour, sugar & powders), then add in the tofu. Keep working it until it comes together and stops being crumbly (a couple minutes). Roll the dough into a long snake and cut into 8 pieces, and curl them into rings.

From here, you can fry or bake (375 degrees, ~15 mins). Meanwhile, melt your chocolate topping and dip the finished donuts.

Notes

1. The above doubles the original recipe. I got halfway into this before thinking, what else am I going to do with half a pack of silken tofu (especially with T-giving leftovers incoming...).
2. The dough took a little time and effort to come together, so be patient! Just when you think you messed up, it comes together.
3. I am not a baker and actually did mess up though. I forgot the baking powder, and made melting the chocolate topping kind of gross. Which left me with a dense and less-appealing final product.
4. All that said, I still liked them! Worth trying again soon :)

T-giving bfast for the coffee drinker in the house...

 

Tofu Katsu Curry

Ah the vegan life of always trying to find new, interesting ways to prepare tofu ;) This one seemed worth a try!

Recipe

Tofu

1 block extra-frim tofu

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 c panko bread crumbs

1 tsp curry powder

Curry

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 inch ginger, grated

2 garlic cloves, sliced

1 tbsp curry powder

1 can (400g) coconut milk

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp maple syrup

2 tsp soy sauce

Rice, green onion, lime wedges, other veggies

• Press the tofu - like an hour, really get at it! Then slice into thin squares.
• Heat some oil in a skillet, and stir fry the onion, carrot & ginger until softening. Then add the garlic and curry powder.
• Then add the coconut milk and cornstarch, and stew for 10 minutes or so. Then add the syrup and soy sauce, and remove from heat.
• Blend the curry sauce until smooth.
• For the katsu, whisk the cornstarch into 4 tbsp hot water. Mix the panko & curry powder on a plate. 
• Heat oil in a skillet. Dip the tofu in the cornstarch, then coat with bread crumbs. Shallow fry a few minutes per side, until golden.
• Serve some rice *and veggies) in bowls with the curry powder over and tofu on top!

Notes

A bit fancier, but worth it! Main note is, you may need more panko depending on how you slice the tofu and the total surface area you have. I'd recommend not holding back ;)

Need to add a picture when we have the crispy tofu on top and not buried under the curry sauce - was still good but got to preserve that crispiness!

Vegan Orange "Chicken"

Another online find for an easy but delicious vegan meal: link

Recipe

• 1 package extra firm tofu
• 3/4 c orange juice
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp rice (or other) vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 inch ginger, minced
• 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/6 c water (sorry, halving the recipe...)
• 1/2 tbsp orange zest
• 1/4 tsp chili flakes

Cube your tofu and bake at 425 about 25 minutes, flipping partway through.

Heat a skillet medium high and add your garlic & ginger, plus a tbsp of water or so. Next mix in the OJ, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and chili flakes, and heat up. Meanwhile mix the cornstarch and water separately, then whisk into the sauce. Stir until it thickens up, lowering heat if it gets bubbly. Add in the tofu once it's done and coat it up nice and good, along with the orange zest.

Serve over rice!

Notes

First time, I went a little overboard with the crushed red pepper. My B! Definitely worth trying again for a nice sweet & spicy, not to difficult meal.

Tofu Tikka Masala

Love tikka masala, so definitely worth trying out this vegan version...

Recipe

2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
3 small Thai green chilis, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1" ginger, minced
1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 c vegan yogurt (or 1/2 c coconut milk)
1/4 c cashews (soaked for 4 hours or boiled for 15 minutes)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1/2 lemon, juiced

1 block tofu
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp nutritional yeast

• Press the tofu, then cube and coat in the coatings.  Bake 15-20 minutes at 350, flipping partway through.
• Heat a pan with some oil on high, then add the garlic, ginger, chilis, and onion.
• Then add the tomatoes, then once some water releases add the spices, then the tomato paste.
• Add the tomato mixture, cashews, and 4 tbsp water to a blender, and mix into a sauce.
• Sauce goes back in the pan on low, simmer, and add the yogurt, then the lemon juice.
• Next add in the tofu and bell pepper, and simmer 10 minutes.
• Serve with the tofu over rice, quinoa, or whatever!

Notes

So, the saag paneer recipe made it really easy to make really authentic-, professional-seeming Indian food. This one was a little trickier - the flavors were there (and awesome), but the texture needed a little fine tuning / trial & error after the first attempt.  Second time around to make it creamier, we added a second (small) tomato, and more coconut milk, prob ending up around 1/2 cup.  Much better:

Tofu Bolognese

Alright, now getting into the vegan phase - thanks Anne ;)  First up...

Recipe

2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
1 block extra firm tofu
3 c tomato sauce
1 lb spaghetti or other pasta

Preheat oven to 350, and oil or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Mix the seasonings and stuff into a brown paste, and crumble in the tofu.  Mix it in real good, spread on the baking sheet, and cook for 35-45 minutes.  Toward the end, cook up the tomato sauce, then add the tofu, and serve over pasta (cook that in there toward the end too).

Tofu Pesto Pasta

Getting back into Veggie Monday and finding new recipes to try out.  This one looked promising...

Recipe

1 lb pasta (tricolor spiral recommended)
1 lb tofu, drained and cubed
1 lb mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1 c black olives, sliced
1 tbsp capers
1/4 c grated Parmesan
1 sprig basil

Pesto (if not using pre-made)
1/4 c olive oil
2 c milk
1 oz pesto paste

Start your pasta water (and blend the pesto if you're doing it).  Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil at medium.  Add the tofu, season with salt & pepper, and brown evenly.  Remove the tofu, and add the mushrooms for about 5 minutes.  Then stir in the olives, capers, some of the Parmesan, then the pesto and tofu.  Serve over the pasta with basil.

Notes

This was actually a lot easier to prepare than I thought - took (much) longer to boil the water for a big batch of pasta than it did to chop everything.  Lots of good flavors between the pesto, 'shrooms, olives, and capers - no problem eating enough to fill up!

Tofu Tacos

Yeah, I think I'll keep this intro brief and just present the links without comment: here and here.

Recipe

Tacos

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 handful cilantro, chopped
1 brick extra-firm tofu
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp tomato paste
salt, pepper
6 corn tortillas
optional:
cheddar cheese, shredded
avocado, thinly sliced
tomato, chopped

Heat the oil in a deep pan, then saute the onions and cilantro, seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne pepper.  Crumble the tofu into the pan, add the tomato paste, and cook 3-5 minutes.

Line a baking pan with tin foil with three pockets for your tortillas.  Fill each tortilla with the tofu mixture and top with avocado, tomato, and cheese.  Bake for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Papaya salsa

1 whole papaya
1/2 a red onion, finely diced
1 tomato, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
juice of half a lime
1 tsp Mexican seasoning (or sprinkles of paprika, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper, oregano, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves)
salt

De-seed and -skin your papaya and chop into bite-size chunks.  Mix together with everything else.

Notes

As expected, it's really not quite as good as the real thing.  But it does have some nice things going for it - it's cheap and fast, feels very healthy, works well as a team effort, and (relatedly) I assume there's a reason you were looking for something vegetarian...  It came out as four big tacos.  Also just be aware that you'll have way more salsa than you need, so definitely plan on other ways to finish that off.