Homemade Tofu "Bacon"

Another fake meat experiment with tofu that turned out really well. You can skip the food colouring of course, though the smoked salt does tend to give the tofu an unattractive grey look without it.

You Will Need:

1 pound extra firm tofu cut into fourths and pressed dry under weights for 30 minutes.
5 tablespoons corn oil
1 teaspoon smoked salt
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Golden Syrup
Red Food Colouring

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place tofu in an 8x8 pan. Pour over remaining ingredients well combined. Turn tofu once to coat. Bake 30 minutes on each side. Tofu should be firm, but not hard with just the slightest char at the edges. Remove to a plate and cool. Store tightly wrapped in fridge. I sliced it thin to use on BLT sandwiches on buttermilk white bread.

Stir-Fry With Soybeans, Tofu, and Kale

Oh, I know-it sounds terrible. It was actually a nice combination, but I can see where it might be a bit on the odd side to a non-vegetarian. The advantage was that most of this was prepared the night before and set in the fridge until today. I literally used whatever I had-which turned out to be half a bag of frozen soybeans, wilted kale and some celery that had seen better days.

The tofu needs at least eight hours to soak before baking (and that takes an hour) so plan ahead. It keeps well, tightly wrapped in cling film, so it can be made a day or so in advance.

You Will Need:

For the tofu:

1 block extra firm tofu, pressed dry of as much water as possible between dishtowels. Slice into 4 slabs.

In a baking dish, combine 6 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons cooking oil
2 tablespoons minced stem ginger
3 cloves of minced garlic

Lay the slabs on top, turn once and cover with plastic. Turn again in four hours and let sit for a total of at least eight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place pan in oven and bake tofu for 30 minutes. Turn, bake another 30 minutes and continue baking until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the colour is dark and crispy. Remove to a plate, chill, and wrap tightly when cool. Cut into dice and use half for stir fry, and the other half as you like (see potsticker recipe below for ideas).

For the stir fry:

1/2 head green cabbage, shredded
1 cup sliced shallots
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups shredded kale
2 cups cooked soybeans
1 red bell pepper, sliced
3 stalks celery, finely sliced
4 carrots, thinly sliced on diagonal
1 tablespoon minced ginger
4 tablespoons hoisan sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce 2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 teaspoons five spice powder

Cook everything in a hot wok/pan until softened to your taste. Serve hot, over rice.

Vegetarian Pot Stickers

Sure, these are time consuming, but the recipe makes quite a bit, and now I have thirty pot stickers in the freezer for future use. There's no point making only a few, besides, I always end up with too much filling. If you're really determined to do a small batch, the recipe for the dough will work in half-but really, if you're going to roll out dough, you might as well make it worth the effort.

For The Filling:

1 cup frozen soybeans, boiled and drained
1 package pot noodles cooked, drained and tossed lightly with oil (save the seasoning packet for later)
1 carrot, finely diced
3 stalks celery, trimmed and finely chopped
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup kale, finely sliced in shreds
1/2 cup baked tofu cut into very tiny dice
1/2 seasoning packet from noodles
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2-3 tablespoons cooking oil

Cook everything except noodles and spice packet in a large pan in oil until quite soft. Toss in noodles, adding more oil if needed to prevent sticking and toss with the seasoning packet. Remove to a bowl to cool.

Prepare Dough:

2 cups warm water (you may need more)
4 cups AP flour

Place flour in a large bowl and add water slowly, mixing with your hand as you go. The dough should be pliable without being sticky. Knead lightly, then cover with a damp dishtowel and let rest twenty minutes.


Divide dough into 8 parts. Roll each part into a long strand and then cut into balls (about ten per part, but that's going to vary depending how big you want the dumplings). Roll out as thin as possible, leaving the centre of the dumpling slightly thicker.

Place a teaspoon of filling in the centre, bring up the sides and pinch closed. Then, crimp together and set on a tray that has been lined with waxed paper and a generous coating of oil. I mean, generous. Spray isn't going to cut it here.

When you are finished, grease another piece of paper and lay it over the top. Chill the tray until you are ready to cook. If freezing, do a few at a time on a greased paper lined plate in the freezer. Transfer to freezer bags when firm, using the waxed paper as a divider between layers. Repeat until bag is filled. Lay flat in freezer.

To Cook:

Steaming:

line your steamer with cabbage leaves (Napa, regular old cabbage, even lettuce will do in a pinch) and oil it (they call 'em "potstickers" 'ya know?) well. Place the potstickers into the steamer over boiling water and cover. Cook until the dumplings are translucent-about five minutes. Remove and let drain/dry while you heat the oil.

Heat a small amount of oil in a wok/pan and stir fry the dumplings until they are slightly browned, but still chewy textured (you don't want to deep fry them-well, perhaps you do, but I don't). Serve immediately with dipping sauce.

For dipping sauce you can use plum sauce if you have it (we finally finished the last of my homemade plum sauce-boo hoo. I made two very nice sauces tonight with the following:

Brown sauce:

4 tablespoons hoisan sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon dried shallots
Splash water
Splash soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon Five Spice powder

Mix well and let onions re-hydrate before serving

Red Sauce:

Juice of a lime
4 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons garlic chili sauce
]1 clove minced garlic
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup water

Mix well