Yes, vegan fried "chicken" and gravy. My sister's exact words were "This is so good, I can live with this forever"--and this is coming from my omnivorous sister who loves her share of meat.
I love that fulfilling feeling I get when I hear from people who enjoy my recipes, most especially my family members and friends, who have tried my creations these past few years, both good and bad! It's usually a hit or miss when it comes to recipe development and trust me when I say I've had my fair share of failures. Though one of the ingredients I enjoy getting experimental with and still continuously being challenged by is tofu.
It's such a versatile ingredient that when prepare in different ways, also yields very different tastes and textures.
This time around, I froze my tofu. Freezing tofu will change your life, trust me.
It creates these amazing layers because of the water that freezes. The ice seeps through the tofu, creating these layers, that can easily replicate meat. It's amazing, really.
I froze the tofu overnight and left it to thaw for a few hours in room temperature. Afterwards, I squeezed out the water from the tofu by placing them in between two boards, or by using a tofu press (if you have one).
Afterwards, I broke them into small pieces. It's quite challenging to have them break into evenly sized pieces so this is something you don't need to fret about.
There will be small pieces that you can clump together and coat in the flour as well.
After each piece is coated in flour, I then soaked them in the flax 'egg' mixtures before rolling them into the breadcrumbs.
After coating each one of them, I then moved on to frying each piece until golden brown and crisp.
You can see how amazing the texture is! I also highly recommend eating these while they're hot and freshly cooked.
You can find the full recipe for the fried 'chicken' and gravy below! Enjoy!
Are you looking for more delicious, vegan recipes? Check out my Vegan Kitchen eBook, which contains over 95 recipes that are packed with flavour and made with simple and easily accessible ingredients! Two trees (instead of 1!) will be planted for every download of my eBook through non-profit organisation One Tree Planted.🌲
Vegan Fried “Chicken” (I doubled this recipe)
Good for 2 people
Ingredients
2 240g blocks extra firm tofu, frozen and thawed
Canola oil or any neutral oil, for frying
Flour Mixture
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp + 2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
Flax Egg
2 tbsp ground flax seed/flax seed meal
6 tbsp water
1/4 tsp black salt, or regular salt
Breadcrumb Mix
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used Japanese breadcrumbs), added to leftover flour
Steps
Prepare the flax egg by mixing the water, flax meal, and salt. Set aside and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes until thick.
Freeze the blocks of tofu overnight. I removed my tofu from the container with water that I usually store it in and simply placed them on a freezer-safe tray. After freezing it, thaw the blocks for a few hours in room temperature. Squeeze out the liquid using two flat surfaces. Ensure that the liquid is drained out really well. You can also opt to use a tofu press.
Slowly break apart the pieces using a knife or your hands. You can follow the natural breaks of the tofu. There will be small pieces that you can clump together so don’t worry, nothing will go to waste!
Afterwards, roll and coat each piece in the flour mixture. For the smaller pieces, you will need to clump and squeeze them together before and after rolling them into the flour mixture for them to stick together.
After coating each piece into the flour, add 1/2 cup breadcrumbs into the leftover flour mixture. Mix well.
Dip each piece of tofu into the flax egg mixture. Transfer onto the breadcrumb and flour mixture then coat well. Repeat this step for the rest of the pieces.
Heat a pan with the oil. I used a cast iron pan and added enough oil to submerge at least half of the pieces in oil. Once hot, slowly add in the tofu pieces.
Fry in medium heat until golden brown and crisp, turning each piece halfway through. Once golden brown, remove from the oil and transfer into a strainer to drain any excess oil. Turn off the heat.
Enjoy while hot with some gravy or your favourite dipping sauce! Note: the small pieces of tofu that were clumped together will naturally have layers of flour inside, but its still very good!
Easy Vegan Gravy
Makes roughly 2 cups
2 cups vegetable stock or water*
1 tbsp vegan butter or olive oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp soy sauce
Salt, to taste
*You may need to season the gravy more or add a veggie cube
Steps
In a pan, heat the oil. Add in the flour and mix until a paste is formed.
Add in the rest of the ingredients.
Mix well and simmer for 5-10 minutes until thick and smooth.*
Add in salt to taste then mix well. Best enjoyed while hot! You can also store this in the refrigerator once cool, then heat up again when ready to use. Can last up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Note that it will thicken up when cold, but will return to its regular consistency when heated.
*Note: You can opt to use an immersion blender to easily dissolve the lumps of flour that can form.
