Lemon and Dill Tofu Fish & Chips

Phoebe Thorburn -

Fish & Chips, vegan style – without requiring a deep-fryer, yet yielding beyond-epic results, yes PLEASE!! This recipe took a bit of exploring and discovering to get right, but the result I think you’ll agree is rather moreish. I started experimenting with eggplant (too watery and mooshy), then I tossed around different marinating ideas and settled on this one which encourages that fishy, silky, fillet-effect that is really quite difficult to achieve. Providing you let your horizons of expectation broaden about how ‘fishy’ this in fact will be, I think you’ll be choofed and rather delighted, as I was, upon first bite.

Ingredients

Tofu Fish

  • 450g firm/hard tofu - 1⁄4 cup olive oil
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp dried dill
  • 1 tsp vegetable stock powder - 1 tsp celery salt
  • pepper, to season
    Batter
  • 1⁄2 cup chickpea (besan) flour
  • 1⁄4 cup GF plain flour (or wheat flour)
  • 1⁄2 tsp garlic powder
  • salt & pepper, to season
  • 1⁄2 cup unsweetened plant-based milk
  • 1⁄2 cup water
  • 2 nori (seaweed) sheets
  • GF breadcrumbs (or regular bread crumbs) Tartare Sauce
  • 2 heaped tbsp vegan mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp dried dill
  • juice of 1⁄4 lemon
  • 1 tbsp capers, drained & chopped
  • salt & pepper, to season
    To Serve: roasted potato chips/wedges
    the store-bought variety worked best for me

Method

  1. Drain the tofu of excess water, and cut into about 1 cm thick slices
    (shape of choice), which will be your fish fillets. In a airtight container (large enough to hold the tofu slices), combine all the remaining ingredients under the Tofu Fish header, mixing until smooth. This is your marinade. One by one, dip each tofu slice in it, so that both sides are covered in the stuff. Once coated, place all the tofu slices into the marinade-container, cover with the lid, place in the fridge and let marinade for at least 6 hours (preferably overnight).
  2. When ready to cook your ‘fish’, preheat your oven to 200C (390F). 3. Make your batter by whisking together all the Batter ingredients
    (sans the nori & breadcrumbs) until smooth. Remove the tofu from the fridge and cut nori pieces (using scissors) to approximately the size of each piece of tofu (don’t make them bigger, but smaller is fine).
  3. Line a baking tray and pour some breadcrumbs onto a plate/bowl, so you are ready to batter and crumb your tofu fillets. Take a piece of tofu, letting excess oil drip off. Dip and coat in the batter (yes it’s a messy business), add the nori sheet to one side, then cover completely in the batter (a mostly-even, not-too-thick layer of batter is what you want), then transfer to the breadcrumb plate and coat all sides with crumbs (use a spoon to help), before laying your fillet on the lined baking tray. Repeat the process with all the tofu pieces.
  4. Drizzle a little of the leftover olive oil fish marinade over the crumbed fish ‘fillets, then place in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Flip over and cook for 5 minutes more, or until thoroughly golden and epic looking.
  5. While the fish is cooking, combine all the Tartare Sauce ingredients in a small bowl to combine. Chill until needed.
  6. Serve the fish fillets with roasted potato chips/wedges if desired, along with the tartare sauce. Best eaten freshly cooked.