First, drain the block of tofu--extra firm works best. Now, several things about this 'drain the tofu' stuff. It is not a huge task to do this. Just pull it from the container. Press it over the sink with both hands, firmly, but don't let it crumble out from under your fists. That would be a drag. Then, place this brick on say, five sheets of paper towels. On top of this, place another five sheets of paper towels, or use a clean kitchen towel. Then lay a cutting board or heavy bottom pan on top. Set it aside while you get busy with the rest of the fixins. Next, start those potatoes. I bought this yellow kind and just lightly peeled and boiled them till they were soft. Drain them and set aside in the same pot you boiled them in, that way they'll stay warm. Just lightly mash 'em and put a little margerine in with them and season to taste--you are done. Then, I got the green beans going. You know, if you've ever had a church or funeral meal, those cooked-all-day till- they-want-to-curl-around-your-finger kind are what you'd find. I loved those! I simply placed my green beans in veggie broth and let them cook for the full time it took the taters to get mushy. Then I turned down the heat and let them sit covered. Now, as for the corn on the cob, come on, you know you want some! What a cinch it was, just take a corn cob, cut it in half, sit them on a plate together, cover with some clear plastic wrap and zap in the microwave for two minutes. There, you've got the major part of the meal together. Now, make the dredging stuff for the tofu. Let me first tell you, my inspiration for fried tofu came from an amazing little cookbook: Vegan Vittles by Jo Stepaniak. The inspiration for the gravy came from The 30 Minute Vegan by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray (an awesome 'new' vegan cookbook find!--I need to give them some love on amazon--only has 2 reviews so far, but I've tried several dishes and have been impressed!).
Southern-Fried Vegan Country Tofu
1 cup soy milk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Mix this in a small bowl and set aside.
Dredging Mix:
1 cup nutritional yeast
In a wide dish--like a casserole dish, add any variation of seasonings to this you'd like, in increments of say, 1 teaspoon for the leafy, dried stuff, to half a teaspoon for the ground stuff. For instance, begin with your powders--onion, garlic, curry, mustard, paprika, cayenne pepper, Spike or Mrs. Dash. Just play with this. But you get the picture. Set aside.
1 cup flour--spelt, or unbleached white
Set aside in a small bowl.
Hemp Seed *optional, but would certainly add some crunch to these, say a 1/3 cup with the flour.
Now, in a pan, add enough oil to cover the bottom--I used canola, but you could use safflower, or sunflower, your choice. Turn the heat on medium low--tofu can splatter when placed in oil, so be careful! Take your drained tofu and slice it horizontally into four equal sizes. Then, cut those into triangles. Dredge in the following manner: First in the milk mixture, then flour, then nutritional yeast mixture. Place in pan with oil. Let cook for about 10 minutes per side on medium heat. Try not to mess with these, they just need to cook! When ready to pull out, set on a plate with paper towels and let drain. I also warmed the oven to place my first batch in there while I worked on the second batch.
The Most Amazing Vegan Shitake Mushroom Gravy
1/3 cup flour--spelt or unbleached white
1/4 cup oil--canola or sunflower
1/2 of yellow onion, sliced as thinly as possible
2 cloves of garlic minced
8 shitake mushroom caps, stems removed, sliced thin
2 1/2 cups veggie stock--low sodium
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons Shoyu sauce
Fresh parsley (about three stems--tips chopped up)
2 teaspoons Spike or Mrs. Dash
Fresh ground pepper
First, make the slurry of flour and oil in a small bowl, set aside. Then, in a medium saucepan, add about a tablespoon of oil, then add onion and garlic and mushrooms. Cook for about ten minutes. Then add the veggie broth, mix this in with a whisk. Then add the nutritional yeast, mix well with a whisk. Turn the heat down a bit and add the rest of the ingredients. Whisk well. Finally, add the slurry flour mixture. Whisk with heat turned down for about a minute, then turn off the heat, the gravy should really thicken up fast.
That's it! Add a little Brooks and Dunn and y'all have yourself a real fine time!
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