We visited the amazing Unity Diner in London for dinner recently. It’s a not-for-profit vegan restaurant in east London that’s famous for its tofish amongst other things. We had the tofish bites as a side, and since then I’ve been dreaming about them! I had a go at recreating them this weekend, and was pleased with the results.
Like almost all of our tofu recipes, this recipe needs advance preparation. You’ll need to press the tofu for a couple of hours at least one day in advance, and preferably three, and then marinade it.
Ingredients
Juice of one lime
Teaspoon chilli flakes
150g frozen peas
10 new potatoes
2 tbsp vegan butter
1 clove garlic
75g plain or self raising flour
25g cornflour
125 cold beer or fizzy water
1 block tofu
4 tbsp seaweed flakes
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp liquid smoke
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
Method
Press the tofu for 2 hours at least one day before making the tofish. Use a tofu press or wrap the tofu in a clean tea towel, place it in a sieve over a bowl, and place heavy books on top.
Make the marinade with the lemon juice, liquid smoke, seaweed flakes and soy sauce. Chop the tofu into cubes and place in the marinade in a bowl. Top it up with warm water so all the tofu is covered and put it in the fridge.
When you are ready to make the tofish, make the batter by combining the flour, cornflour, beer/water and salt.
Preheat the oven to 180degrees.
Parboil the potatoes for five minutes, then cool them in the fridge for twenty minutes.
Make the garlic butter by combining the vegan butter and the minced garlic clover.
Cut small slits in the cooled potatoes, and top with a small amount of garlic butter. Bake for 40 minutes.
Once the potatoes have been baking for 30 minutes, heat a wok with oil. Dip the tofu cubes in the batter and fry on each side until golden. This is easier if you have tongs to dip the cubes in the batter.
At the same time, boil the peas until cooked. Mash them up with the lime juice and chilli.
Take the potatoes out of the oven and serve with the tofish and lime peas.
If you like this, try our sage chilli butter cabbage with sweet potato.