It’s not often that I eat tofu, I consider it as kind of a treat when I do. The whole soy issue is questionable to say the least, so I tend to stay on the safe side and only eat it on occasion.
So when I’m cooking with tofu I like to make it into a healthy version of take out food. It’s the closest I can come to take out food these days!
There is always a way to create a healthy version of whatever food your craving, sometimes you just have to get a little creative! And so I give you this tofu chick’n fillet/patty recipe…
The tofu popcorn chick’n recipe is the most popular recipe on the blog to date. It actually kind of surprises me that this one was so popular. I mean, I know it tastes amazing and delicious, but I’m pretty proud of some of my other recipes too!
The popcorn chick’n is one of my earlier recipes, and I’ve been playing with variations of it for a long time. Recently I decided to add another dry coating to it, to get a more ‘crispy’ type feel instead of the fried/battered taste you get with the popcorn recipe.
Both are equally delicious, but they serve different purposes. This recipe would be great used as a burger patty, or in recreating chicken parmigiana, or anything where you need a chick’n patty.
In the photos you will see that I’ve paired it with the garlic punch parsley pesto I shared a while back – HOLYcrapballs of deliciousness, these two go perfectly together!! You know why? Because together it tastes like chicken kiev! One of my favourite foods growing up.
Tofu must be prepared right, or it just tastes weird and gross. I thought I hated tofu for years, and kept trying it, I really wanted to like it but just didn’t – until I learnt how to cook it right. If you’re still unsure about tofu, try my tofu chick’n popcorn recipe or this recipe and I guarantee you will change your mind!
One of the secrets is to press the tofu properly. Some people swear that freezing the tofu a day or so ahead of time helps the texture tremendously by making it more ‘meaty’ – I haven’t tried this out too much but am planning on giving it another go soon. Plus its really convenient to store it in the freezer and defrost when I’m in the mood for it. The last thing is that the tofu must be properly marinated or coated – tofu without this just tastes bland and odd. Tofu is made for you to add flavour to it!
- 1 x 500g (1 lb) block extra firm tofu
- coconut oil
- ⅓ cup garbanzo (besan/chickpea) flour
- ¼ tsp paprika or smoked paprika
- dash of black pepper
- ½ cup water
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard (or other type of wet mustard)
- ¾ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 2 Tbsp arrowroot powder
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- ½ tsp salt flakes (or fine grain salt)
- Optional Step: Freeze tofu for at least 24 hours. Defrost tofu in the refrigerator, or for a quicker method place into a hot water bath.
- Press tofu for about 10 minutes. To press, drain tofu, wrap in paper towels or clean tea towel, and place heavy items on top to press. I use a heavy chopping board with some weights on top. Alternatively, you can use a tofu press or squeeze out liquid gently with your hands.
- Meanwhile, get two medium sized bowls ready.
- In one bowl, combine the chickpea flour, paprika and black pepper, then slowly stir in the water. Add the mustard and stir to combine.
- In the other bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the dry coating and stir to combine.
- Slice tofu into about ¼ inch fillets.
- Heat a large skillet/pan to medium-high, and add 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil.
- Dip a tofu fillet into the “wet” mixture bowl, and coat with the mixture, use a fork to help remove it and drain off the excess. Dip the coated fillet into the “dry” mixture bowl, and thoroughly coat with the mixture. Add the fillet to the hot pan, and repeat of remaining tofu fillets.
- Cook until golden brown on each side, about 8 minutes each. This coating is oil-thirsty, so continue to add coconut oil as needed.
So, what do you think – are you a tofu fan? Willing to give it another go?