Recently I’ve been having my two grandchildren over to help cook the Monday meal. Their mums want me to pass on some of the recipes of the meals they enjoyed when they were growing up. On the menu is vegetarian shepherd’s pie, lentil (or anything on hand) pasties, hunza pie, soy bean patties, healthy pizzas and the list goes on. Tonight, we made the treat I used to make on some of the birthdays – deep fried, battered, tofu kebabs with peanut sauce, brown rice and salad. Of course, nothing has measurements except the rice, it’s a bit of toss in this and little bit of that but it comes out good anyway. So this recipe leaves plenty of wriggle room. Today we made the recipe gluten free for my celiac granddaughter and vegan for my lactose intolerant daughter.
Marinade
2 Tbsp soy sauce (tonight it was gluten free soy sauce)
1 tsp maple syrup
1 clove garlic crushed
Skewer ingredients
½ block of firm tofu
½ punnet of cherry tomatoes,
½ can of pineapple pieces
Button mushrooms
½ Red Capsicum
1 small zucchini
Anything else you think would be good to use
Sticks/skewers
Oil or ghee for frying
Batter
1 cup chick pea flour
½ cup rice flour
1 -2 cups warm water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
Peanut Sauce
1 cup peanut butter
1 small can coconut cream
Juice of half a lemon or lime
Juice of the canned pineapple pieces
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 spring onion chopped
1 Tablespoon grated ginger
Here’s what we did:
Chop the tofu into large bite size pieces and marinate in the soy sauce for 10 minutes on each side.
While it’s marinating make the batter and the peanut sauce and assemble the skewer ingredients.
Mix together the batter ingredients and set aside. If it’s too thin add more flour, if it’s too thick add more water.
Place all the peanut sauce ingredients in the blender and give it a good whizz.
Place in saucepan and stir as you heat it, then let it simmer for a little while.
Now the tofu should be ready so get the other ingredients and thread the sticks in an organized pattern of your choice. One of each item per stick.
Put enough oil or ghee in a fry pan to make a deep shallow fry (alternatively you can deep fry them with more oil).
When the oil is hot dip the sticks in the batter and fry on both sides. I can usually cook about 4 sticks at a time in my big fry pan.
Place on paper towels when cooked and keep warm in the oven.
Serve with fresh salad, brown rice and of course peanut sauce.
By Vrndavan Dasi
Founder and Principal of Veda Yoga Teacher Training