Tofu Patty

Tofu Patty 

For those of us who eat eggs breakfast can always be made fast and simple and healthy but then what about those who don't eat eggs? A well there are many an Indian option but most of them are time consuming to make and need a lot of pre-planning.

I came up with the idea for a Tofu patty on a day when I had precious little time on my hands. Usually I try and look up a recipe over the internet for a base but this time I really had no time to do that either. What came to my rescue was Tofu which had been soaked and in water and stored in the refrigerator and an age old Bengali method of making cottage cheese balls. I altered the recipe but followed the method of making the balls and flattened them to make patty.

So here goes the recipe :-

Serves 2

200gm Firm Tofu which has been soaked in water and kept in the refrigerator
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
Salt as per taste
Freshly ground pepper about 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp
3 tbsp to 4 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp finely minced garlic
2 tsp olive oil

Oil for frying

First drain the tofu and crumble it as finely as you can with clean hands and then add the rest of the ingredients except the cornflour and mix very well and try and make a dough. Slowly add the cornflour and mix it well. Now try and make little balls out of the dough, you will find it crumbling a bit but that's alright just keep pressing to make a patty.

Heat oil on medium heat and gently place the patty. Let it cook on medium to low heat for 2 minutes and flip it over and cook for 2 more minutes. Make sure you do not burn the patty.

Enjoy your breakfast by placing the patty inside wholewheat buns slathered with a hung curd dip for a healthy breakfast. Alternately you can slather butter or mayonnaise and make it an indulgence

Braised Tofu Mushroom

Braised Tofu Mushroom 

Turns out this is my first vegan post. I decided to make something nice for the other half  and when he told me he has tried his hands at Chinese food while I was away in Calcutta I decided I would make a Chinese spread for him. Now my husband is vegetarian which proved to me a challenge since most of the Chinese dishes that I know of are strictly non vegetarian and even the ones with lots of vegetables contain some form of meat.

Well all I did was chuck out the meat and make a braised tofu mushroom for the hubby.

Serves 2 to 3

200gm tofu cut into rectangular cubes
150gm button mushrooms
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
3/4th cup water
2 tsp cornflour
2 large cloves of garlic
1 scallion
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 tbsp oil
2 ripe red chili
Salt as per taste

For the marinate :-

2 tsp rice wine vinegar (or any white vinegar)
2 tsp soy sauce

Oil for frying

Marinate the tofu with the rice wine vinegar and soy sauce for 1 hour. In the meantime mince the garlic and ginger, slice the scallion bulb and finely chop the scallion green and red chili and halve the mushrooms. Whisk the cornflour with 2 tbsp water and make a smooth paste

Now shallow fry  the tofu till its golden brown on both sides. Don't forget to turn them over and take care not to burn them.

Keep aside the  tofu and heat 1 tbsp oil and add the minced ginger and garlic along with the scallion bulb and saute and add the mushrooms. Let it get cooked and sprinkle salt and then add the soy sauce , chopped chili and half the finely chopped scallion green. Saute for 1 minute and add the tofu and after half a minute of tossing them about add the rest of the water and bring to a boil and simmer for 6 minutes or so and add the cornflour mixed with water and keep stirring to make a thick sauce. Garnish with the remaining finely chopped scallion green and serve with some fried rice.