Grilled Hawaiian Tofu with Baked Macadamia Nut & Coconut Brown Rice

Well, I figured it was about time I took a break from the cookies and finally posted a savoury dish - and a whole meal this time! I've been absolutely loving this lately, in fact it's been my lunch most of the past week :-) The tofu is marinated in a gorgeous mixture of tamari, pineapple juice, coconut milk and seasoning then grilled until nicely singed. The rice is short grain brown rice baked in a mixture of water and coconut milk with spring onions and toasted macadamia nuts stirred in at the end....and for the record I'm always going to make my rice this way from now on....it just turns out effortlessly perfect. Lastly I also threw some pineapple on the grill as a side dish and served it all with some of the leftover marinade as a sauce. I also served mine with a virgin pina colada (as it was lunch and I'm not that bad!) A real one would be perfect with this for dinner :-)

First, the tofu: I was inspired here by the "Hawaiian Grilled Chicken" recipe by The Girl Who Ate Everything. Most of the time when I am looking for a new tofu marinade I search meat marinades as they work wonderfully and this one is gorgeous! I did make a few changes however, I swapped the water with pineapple juice for more Hawaiian flavour, reduced the brown sugar to make up for that, added some smoked paprika, increased the sesame oil a tad (as I love it) and left the spring onions for the rice. 

This is seriously amazing tofu!! I left it to marinade about an hour, grilled with some coconut oil and brushed more marinade on while grilling and served with more marinade to drizzle (or spoon) over while eating because it is that good. (I even drizzled it over my rice and yes....dipped the pineapple into it. No shame!

Second, the rice: here I also took advice from Christy at The Girl Who Ate Everything as she recommended serving the chicken with coconut rice and she suggested just swapping half the water you cook the rice in with coconut milk. However, I got to thinking this would be nice baked as it would accentuate the creaminess of the coconut milk in there AND it means while you are busy grilling the tofu the rice can just get on with baking in the oven - so much easier! So, I've based this recipe on Alton Brown's recipe for Baked Brown Rice but swapped the butter with coconut oil, replaced some of the water with coconut milk and used short grain brown rice.

It turns out perfect every time and tastes absolutely amazing! I further added some sliced spring onions and chopped toasted macadamia nuts to keep the Hawaiian theme going. The crunch and flavour of the nuts in there is wonderful :-) 

Grilled Hawaiian Tofu:

Yields 2 servings

200g tofu, medium firm 

¼ cup / 60ml tamari for gluten-free or soy sauce

¼ cup / 60ml pineapple juice

2 Tbsp light brown sugar

¼ tsp smoked paprika

1 clove garlic, minced

½ tsp toasted sesame oil 

100ml full fat coconut milk (6 Tbsp + 2 tsp)

2 tsp coconut oil to fry

Slice the tofu into 4 thin rectangles, about 1cm then press between paper towels to remove as much water as possible. Repeat with more paper towels if necessary. When they are fairly dry, pierce all over with a fork to help them absorb the marinade and place them in a dish and pour over the marinade. 

Please note that all the following photos are from me making just 1 serving of the tofu and rice...

Leave this to marinade for at least 1 hour, flipping them once or twice. I didn't refrigerate mine as the coconut milk thickens up too much in the fridge.

Preheat a grill pan until very hot and add the coconut oil, brush it all over as it melts then remove the tofu from the marinade and place on the grill pan. While the tofu is cooking also slice a pineapple into wedges (leave the skin on) and pop them on the grill as well. Don't try to flip the tofu until it is well grilled as they will stick if they are not ready to flip. 

Once flipped, brush with a little more marinade and if you want criss cross marks like I did flip again the other way on both sides. Turn over the pineapple when ready as well. Transfer any remaining marinade into 2 little serving bowls to serve with the dish. 

Baked Macadamia Nut Coconut Rice:

¾ cup / 150g short grain brown rice, rinsed

1¼ cup / 300ml water

½ cup / 125ml full fat coconut milk

2 tsp coconut oil or macadamia nut oil, I used coconut

½ tsp salt

•

2 spring onions, finely chopped

30g macadamia nuts, chopped and toasted (about 3 Tbsp)

Chive flowers, optional but recommended

Preparing the macadamia nuts: (you can do this while the rice is baking)....

Chop some unsalted macadamia nuts, not too fine - it's nice to have the crunch in there!

Place in a dry frying pan and toast until lightly golden brown. Inevitably the smaller bits will get golden before the big pieces. That's fine - just don't let them burn. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

For the rice: preheat oven to 190C/375ºF. Rinse the rice well and place in a suitably sized baking dish. Bring the water, coconut milk, oil and salt to the boil in a small saucepan. Pour this over the rice, give it a stir and cover tightly with foil.

Pop this into the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour. Now, mine is always spot on 1 hour but for your first time making this, as all ovens are a bit different, I suggest giving it a look at 50 minutes just to make sure it hasn't baked dry. If it has simply add a splash more hot water and give it a stir, recover with foil and bake until the rice is tender and the liquid absorbed.

Add the sliced spring onions and toasted macadamia nuts and give it a stir. I also highly recommend adding some chive flowers if you have them here - they are just so pretty and taste great in the rice :-)

To plate up: divide the rice, tofu and pineapple among 2 plates with the serving bowl of sauce and scatter over some more chive flowers. Enjoy!

♥

Nutritional Information: for 1 serving of rice, tofu and grilled pineapple. 

Calories: 442

Protein: 13.4g

Fat: 16.4g

Sat Fat: 5.5g

Carbs: 46.6g

Sugar: 12.2g

Fibre: 5.2g

Calcium: 362mg

Sodium: 1221mg

Note: these figures include all of the marinade which you are unlikely to use (no, even I didn't!). 920mg of the sodium figures there are coming from the tamari/soy sauce so don't worry about the high number as you will actually be using much less :-)

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Vegan Parmesan, Rosemary & Shallot Sausages with Sun-Dried Tomato Gravy

I like to think of these as a "veganized and poshed up" version of Glamorgan sausages ;-) I was inspired here by a recipe created by my dear chef friend Stacey's recipe for "Pan Seared Aged White Cheddar Sausages  with Sun-Dried Tomato Gravy". I had them when I was working with her back in my vegetarian days and they were just gorgeous, especially with that gravy. (And a huge thanks to her for permission to post!)

In order to veganize the sausages I've had to change a lot but followed her recipe as a guide. I have made them tofu based and added my Vegan Parmesan recipe of nutritional yeast, ground almonds and salt for a cheesy flavour.

The gravy is pretty much the exact same though, I just swapped onions for shallots (as I had them for the sausages, you can use onion if you prefer) and used soy cream in place of whipping cream. It's a stunning gravy and goes perfectly with the sausages, perfect for a nice dinner with some mashed potato and side of broccoli.

Now, I have made these sausages with both soft and firm tofu. Either work but you have to prepare them differently and you do end up with different textured results depending on which type you use. In the photos you see here I have used an extra firm tofu.

First, with the soft tofu, and I do mean soft, for those of you in the UK/Ireland I used Cauldron's original tofu which is so soft it borders on silken (but don't use silken here!) Anyway, you end up with a softer, looser textured sausage much more reminiscent of traditional Glamorgan sausages which I always remember being very soft. They still hold together and fry up fine but are a little more tricky to shape.

With the extra firm tofu, and I have used quite a firm one here, Taifun's tofu which is even rubbery in texture; you end up with a much firmer sausage, more reminiscent in texture of traditional sausages. This makes them MUCH easier to shape and thus they have less margin of error.

Either way, both turn out well and taste great and I'll post both versions and let you decide which one to make :-)

Lastly, I do apologize for the not-so-great and rather "samey" photos here....I even failed to get a shot of them cut open! My family were eagerly standing in the background waiting for me to finish shooting this so they could eat so I was rather rushed ;-) My poor family always eating lukewarm meals, lol!

Vegan Parmesan, Rosemary & Shallot Sausages:

• 200g extra firm OR soft tofu *see above
• 2 cups (100g) breadcrumbs
• ½ cup (65g) finely chopped shallots
• 1 tsp dried mustard powder
• 1 tsp fine smoked sea salt
• 12 grinds freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 Tbsp finely ground nutritional yeast flakes
• 2 Tbsp ground almonds
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened almond or soy milk (omit if using soft tofu)
• olive oil to grease and fry

Instructions if using soft tofu:

Drain the tofu (there is no need to press). Place everything except the milk into a large bowl and just get in there with your hands, squishing the tofu through your fingers to mush it all up. When well mixed and thick in texture wash then grease your hands with some olive oil and shape into 6 sausages. I find it easiest to grease a 1/4 cup measuring cup and press the mixture in, scoop it out then squeeze and roll into sausage shapes. Lay out on a plate lined with cling film, cover with cling film and chill for at least 1 hour.

Instructions if using extra firm tofu:

Crumble the tofu (no need to press) into a food processor and add the milk. Process until fine in texture and well mixed. Add everything else except the shallots and blend well, it should just come together like a dough and should be able to grab a bit of the mixture and squish it together easily. Now add the shallots and pulse a few times until well mixed and the shallots are a little smaller - you still want bits of shallots in here though so don't overmix.

Grease your hands with olive oil and shape into 6 sausages. Lay out on a plate lined with cling film, cover with cling film and chill for at least 1 hour.

To Fry:

Add 1½ Tbsp of olive oil to a large non-stick frying pan and heat to medium. Add the sausages, turning to coat in the oil and fry, turning frequently until equally golden brown all over.

Sun-Dried Tomato Gravy:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 70g shallots, sliced (about 4 large shallots)
• 50g sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained (about 7 pieces)
• 2 cups (500ml) vegetable stock*
• 2 Tbsp soy cream
• 10 grinds freshly ground black pepper

*First, a note on the vegetable stock, it provides a lot of the flavour in this gravy so make sure you use one you really love the taste of. I've used a Knorr Vegetable Stock Pot here FYI.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan then gently fry the shallots and pepper until the shallots are really soft and caramelized, a nice golden brown will do. 

Tip into a blender (I used my Froothie Optimum 9400 for the silkiest results) with the sun-dried tomatoes and half the vegetable stock. Blend until really smooth then add the rest of the stock and blend again. It will be really watery looking at this point, that's ok!

Pour the mixture into a saucepan and bring to medium heat, reduce to low and simmer with the lid off for about 20 minutes until it has reduced in volume and is thicker. Pour in the cream and stir well.

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliated links to Froothie UK.)

♥

Nutritional Information:

Per sausage (after frying):

Calories: 122

Protein: 5.6g

Fat: 6.4g

Sat Fat: 1.0g

Carbs: 11.1g

Sugar: 1.1g

Fibre: 1.1g

Sodium: 337mg

Per 1/3 of the gravy (a generous amount for a serving of 2 sausages and sides):

Calories: 118

Protein: 2.1g

Fat: 9.4g

Sat Fat: 1.6g

Carbs: 7.1g

Sugar: 2g

Fibre: 1.8g

Sodium: 787mg

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Lightly Charred Zesty Lime Margarita Marinated Tofu

Served with Mexican Rice, Potato Salad and Sweet Iced Tea - hello summer!

Ok, so I am loving this tofu lately! Those of you who like my facebook page will recognize it from a couple weeks ago as part of my blog testing lunches :-) It's pretty much as described, tofu marinated in a zesty lime and tequila marinade then pan fried until lightly charred. It's seriously good, very zesty and downrite more-ish. The marinade is slightly adapted from Iowa Girl Eat's recipe for margarita chicken (good tip - don't limit yourself to searching for tofu recipes, meat marinades usually work awesome as tofu marinades!)

Served as a lighter meal on top of some nice lettuce with slices of avocado and a drizzle of the marinade as a dressing.

What I am really excited about here is the tofu preparation method I have used. I'm very limited here in the types of tofu I can buy. I can get firm and soft silken tofu then I'm pretty much left with Cauldron's Original Tofu:

For those of you not in Ireland and the UK it is a VERY soft tofu, bordering on silken in many ways. I do love it but it's softness can be a let down in some cases, particularly in marinating. Obviously when marinating you want to extract as much of the liquid as you can from the tofu, usually by pressing so that the tofu will absorb all your yummy marinade. This tofu is so soft it gets a little smashed when you press it. Not good. So I was looking for a way to draw out the liquid without pressing (or freezing as it takes too long) - enter, the microwave.

I simply cut the tofu as I wanted, in this case thin-ish triangles and placed them on a plate. Microwaved for 1 minute then placed them on paper towels to drain. Wiped the plate clean of all the water that came out and repeated the process so that it was microwaved a total of 4 minutes. In the end you end up with a much firmer and bouncier tofu with almost all the liquid extracted - perfect for marinating. This does 'cook' the tofu slightly but I find that only enhances the texture again. Plus, you are then marinating the tofu while warm which I find makes it absorb even more marinade.

I am really happy to find a way to make soft tofu firm, and in only 4 minutes! If your tofu is too soft, give this method a try (step by step photos below!)

~Recipe Notes~

♥ If using soft or very soft tofu then follow my microwaving procedure below.
♥ If you are using a firm tofu, simply press the cut tofu between layers of paper towel or a clean kitchen towel for about 15 minutes, change the paper at least once, then marinade as per recipe instructions.
♥ Depending on your microwave you may not need the full 4 minutes, or you may need more. Stop when there is very little water being released by the tofu and it feels firm, bouncy and dry-ish.
♥ The 1 tsp of salt is not a typo! As this is a marinade all of that won't be used and you do want a little salty kick here, just like in a margarita :-) Besides, even when I use it as a dressing it's not too much.
♥ Marinade makes enough for 2 lots of tofu (250g) but I've written this up to serve one. Leftover marinade will keep in the fridge for a couple of days or you can double the amount of tofu here to serve 2.

Zesty Lime Margarita Tofu:

40ml lime juice (about 2 limes) +zest of ½ lime
zest of ¼ orange + juice of ½ orange
1 Tbsp tequila, I used gold
1 Tbsp peanut oil
1 tsp sweet freedom syrup, light agave or maple syrup
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp salt and 16 grinds of black pepper
125g tofu (¼ of a pack of Cauldron) - see notes above

For the marinade simply whisk everything but the tofu together and tip into a container that will fit all the tofu in a single layer.

Marinade Source: Iowa Girl Eats

~Prepare the Tofu~

1. Take ¼ of a pack of Cauldron’s Soft Tofu and slice into 6 thin triangles.
2. Place on a plate and microwave on high 1 minute.
3. Transfer the tofu onto 2 sheets of paper towel and place 1 more on top, pat down gently to absorb water.
4. Dry the plate and return the tofu to it. Microwave again for 1 minute.
5. Transfer to 2 sheets of paper towel and place 1 more on top, pat down to absorb water.
6. Dry the plate and return the tofu to it, poke the tofu with a fork, both sides. Microwave again for 1 minute. (You want to fork the tofu now as it's starting to cook it can 'seal' the out side of the tofu which could result in the tofu not absorbing as much marinade. It also helps the water to release.)
7. Transfer to 1 sheet1 of paper towel and place 1 more on top, pat down to absorb water.
8. Dry the plate and return the tofu to it, poke the tofu with a fork, both sides. Microwave again for 1 minute.
9. Transfer to 1 sheet1 of paper towel and place 1 more on top, pat down to absorb water (there should be very little water at this point). Poke again with a fork on both sides.
10. Place the prepared tofu into the marinade, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to marinade.

~Fry the Tofu~

Brush a little peanut oil onto a frying pan and get it nice and hot. Remove the tofu from the marinade and place in the pan:

 Let it cook until lightly golden brown underneath with some darker spots, then flip them over:

 Spoon over a little of the marinade over each piece of tofu (please take care if you have a gas hob - remember there is tequila in there!!)

 ...and let it sizzle away!

 Flip the tofu over and spoon a little more marinade over, again let it sizzle away.

I now just let it cook, flipping them over until I'm happy with the amount of charred bits I've got on both sides.

Then, just serve as you like! I liked this both ways - as a larger, heartier meal with Mexican Rice and Potato Salad (basic version) and as a lighter salad simply with a nice leaf, avocado and the marinade as dressing. 
(Note that the photos you see here are not with my Mexican Rice recipe but rather an easier 'cheater' version, same idea though.)

♥

Nutritional Information: tofu only, 1 serving

Calories: 193

Protein: 10.9g

Fat: 11.2g

Sat Fat: 2.1g

Fibre: 0.9g

Carbs: 8.8g

Sugar: 5.1g

Sodium: 1163 * - will be less as you don't use ALL the marinade :-)

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Singapore Noodles

This has become one of our favourite stir fries lately, it just has wonderful flavour with curry, garlic, spring onion, spicy chilli, ginger and tamari; loads of crisp vegetables with green beans, red pepper, carrot, sweetheart cabbage and shiitake mushrooms and your protein coming from both chickpeas and a turmeric and toasted sesame oil tofu scramble all mixed in with rice vermicelli noodles. Yum!

I've based it on Felicity Cloake's recipe, featured in her Guardian article on How to make perfect Singapore Noodles. I opted to keep most of the vegetables the same but added some thinly sliced carrot and omitted the peas and water chestnuts; kept the flavourings the same and obviously had to completely change the protein aspects!

Here, I opted to add chickpeas as they go perfectly with curry flavours and swapped the egg with a scrambled tofu flavoured like in my egg fried rice (coincidentally, also based on a Felicity Cloake recipe!) For the 'egg', a soft tofu is scrambled with turmeric, toasted sesame oil and some salt and pepper. This is then tossed in at the end of stir frying. As a result you just get small specks of tofu egg throughout the stir fry, with some larger pieces, which I think is nice.

Recipe Notes

The "mystery" chilli I used :-)

♥ Original recipe called for a green bird's eye chilli, every time I have made this I've used a mystery yellow chilli and have found the heat level perfect. It came in a bag of mixed chillies and described as having a 'medium' heat. Bird's eye would be hotter than what I used, so just use what you can take! I also de-seeded mine.

♥ I had wanted to add Chinese cabbage but had trouble finding it so I used sweetheart cabbage, simply because I love the mild taste of it. Again, you can use any cabbage you like here.

♥ Any of the vegetables can be swapped with your favourites but try and keep the quantities the same.

♥ I love the subtle coconut flavour which comes from the coconut oil here but you can swap that with peanut oil if you prefer.

♥ Original recipe stated that this serves 2 but I would find that quite excessive! We get 3 comfortable servings out of this...but hey, if your starving, go for it!
♥ For gluten free, use tamari in place of soy sauce and a dry sherry in place of the Shaoxing Rice Wine which I understand is hardly ever gluten free. Please also double check your ingredients for things like the rice noodles and curry powder as your products may differ from mine. Also - Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry is vegan as far as I know but you'll have to check any other brand. 

 Singapore Noodles

• 150g rice vermicelli noodles (dry weight)
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin unrefined coconut oil
• 2½ tsp mild curry powder
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic, about 2 large cloves
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
• 1 finely chopped chilli - see notes above 
• 2 spring onions, sliced thin on the diagonal, white and green parts
• ½ red pepper, sliced thin (about 100g)
• ½ carrot, sliced into matchsticks
• 100g fresh or frozen green beans
• 100g sweetheart cabbage, sliced (about 2 cups)
• 100g fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• ½ cup/ 88g chickpeas, from a tin - drained and rinsed
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce (use tamari for gluten free version)
• 2 Tbsp Shaoxing rice wine (use dry sherry for gluten free *see recipe notes above)
• 1/8 tsp sugar
For the "egg":
• 100g soft tofu, not silken
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/8 tsp salt
• some freshly ground black pepper

As with all stir fries, you'll want to get everything chopped and measured and ready to go before you start cooking!

First, soften the noodles: bring a pot of water to the boil, add the rice noodles, cover then turn off the heat and let them sit for 2 minutes. Drain, rinse them with some hot water and set aside to drain. Give them a toss now and again to stop them sticking together.

Next, make the tofu scramble: Crumble the soft tofu into a dry frying pan and add the turmeric, sesame oil and salt and pepper. Turn the heat on to medium and fry, stirring the mixture until well mixed and heated throughout - about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Prep all the vegetables and seasoning's, measure out the chickpeas and mix together the tamari or soy sauce, rice wine and sugar.

To Cook: Heat the coconut oil in a large wok until very hot. Tip in the garlic, ginger, chilli, curry powder and spring onion and stir fry for about 30 seconds (the smell at this point is gorgeous!!)

Now add all the vegetables and chickpeas and stir fry until well mixed. After a couple of minutes I sometimes add a tablespoon or two of hot water if I find the curry powder sticking to the wok - it all depends on how much water comes out of the veg. 

When the veg has softened and in particular the cabbage is wilted, then add the tamari/soy sauce, rice wine and sugar. Give it a good stir then add the rice noodles. I like to turn the heat down to low at this point and stir fry until everything is well mixed and there is no more liquid. Now, stir in the tofu scramble until well distributed.

Serve immediately! This is really lovely with a light refreshing lager like Cobra, Tiger or Asahi :-)

 ♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving out of 3

Calories: 386

Fat: 10.4g

Sat Fat: 4.9g

Protein: 12.7g

Fibre: 7.7g

Carbs: 59.6g

Sugar: 5.5g

Sodium: 1033mg

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