Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Baked Tofu Sandwiches

While at a friends birthday party at a bar, I ran into a guy from HS. I was completely stumped. I remembered nothing. Apparently, not only did we have chorus together, but also worked together at a local pizza joint. I felt really bad, but I have a horrible long term memory, and I can't remember very much from HS. I wish I could say it was 'all those drugs' or some other good excuse, but no, my brain is just that way.

However, silver lining to this cloud, I remembered how we used to microwave chopped onions in a little margarine to put in sandwiches, and they were surprisingly good. So when I baked some marinated tofu later in the week, I decided to use the same trick for my sandwich onions. You may notice from the photo, that this sandwich has no bread. We can blame that squarely on Jon. (Jon loves getting blamed for things, and he reads this blog).

Baked Tofu Side View

How so? He's a mayo-hater. So you just can't keep a jar of vegan mayo around for only one person. It gets moldy. As such, I find most sandwiches way too dry. Thus, the lettuce sandwich. You might think that's sad, but wait till you try and it and it rocks and you are like 'forget bread, that's for cinnamon toast obviously, not for sandwiches!'

So, to make the baked tofu:
(oven needs to be at 425, btw)

First press your tofu unless its CRAZY firm (like soyboy low fat or white wave hard tofu) for 15 mins under something heavy. Then slice SUUUUPER thin, slightly thinner than a cd jewel case.

Marinade:

2 Tbs Miso (Red or Yellow)
2 Tbs Rice Vinegar or Lemon Juice
2 Tbs Sugar
2 Tbs Tamari
1 Tbs Nutritional Yeast
1/4 tsp Liquid Smoke

If you aren't pressed for time, marinate your tofu for 20 mins in the marinade (this means you should delay preheating the oven a bit - wait till you start marinating. If you are pressed for time, just dip the tofus in the marinade to coat both sides and throw in the oven. Wait 15 mins. Remove and paint on more marinade on both sides with a special non-disgusting paintbrush you reserve only for kitchen food jobs. Throw back into the oven (make sure the other side is the top side now so they get evenly cooked). Check in 10 mins for doneness. They should look dry-ish and a little darker around the edges. Give them 5 more minutes if they don't look done.

They will actually improve in flavor overnight in the fridge, but I had to dig in right away.

I took some chopped red onions and put them in a tiny bowl with a bit of margarine (I subsequently tried this with a bit of spray oil, and then, a few drops of water and they all worked fine), and microwaved for 25 seconds & stirred, and repeated until I was happy with their level of cooked-ness. I chopped up some grape tomatoes as well.

To assemble:

Place a large clean romaine lettuce leaf on your plate. Put a piece of baked, cooled tofu on top, and throw on a handful of the chopped grape tomatoes and the cooked onions. Then fold the lettuce leaf over the tofu both ways, so you can keep it mostly from falling out, and chow down.