Recipes of the Month: Almond Crusted Tofu and Eggplant Soy Curls

This month, you are getting two new vegan recipes for the price of one (which is to say, free.) After cruising through most of October without trying anything new, we have tried two new recipes in the space of one week, and you are gaining the benefits of our experience with both. (Actually, one of them isn't quite vegan, since Brian used some fish sauce in the stir-fry sauce, but there are plenty of vegan substitutes for this to be found online, so it would be easy to make it vegan-friendly if you wanted to.)

The first dish was the Almond Rosemary Lemon Crusted Tofu from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. I had downloaded this one at some point, thinking it looked like an interesting main dish to try, and we finally got around to making it this week. The concept is pretty simple: it's just thick slices of firm tofu, dredged in flour, dipped in coconut milk, coated with a flavorful mixture of bread crumbs, crushed almonds, lemon zest, and fresh rosemary, and then baked. It's not at all difficult to do, and it takes maybe half an hour, tops.

And the result? Well, it's not bad, but it's not extraordinary. The breading mixture has a nice crisp texture and zingy lemon-rosemary flavor, but the tofu within has basically none, because it hasn't been marinated or spiced at all prior to cooking. It has a pleasant soft texture that contrasts well with the crunchy coating, but it contributes nothing at all to the taste. So as a whole, the dish is nowhere near as flavorful as many other vegan recipes we've tried, including some from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. 

Another problem with this dish is that it supplies only one portion of the meal. The tofu has plenty of protein, but it still needs an accompanying veggie and some sort of starch for ballast. We had ours with baked potatoes and green beans, neither of which is much trouble to make, but it's still not as convenient as a one-dish recipe that provides protein, veggie, and starch all together.

All in all, neither Brian nor I thought this was a dish we would go out of our way to make again. Brian thought it could be useful to keep in the repertoire for those occasions when we already have an open can of coconut milk and/or a partially used package of tofu, since it could put them both to good use and doesn't call for any other ingredients we're not likely to have on hand. (Well, maybe the lemon zest, but we could just replace the pepper in the breading with lemon pepper.) But it probably won't go into the regular rotation.

The second dish was a bit more off-the-cuff. Brian had bought an eggplant on a whim at the market, and he was originally planning to cook it up with some of the tofu left over from the first dish. But instead, he decided to experiment by replacing the tofu with Butler Soy Curls, which we were flush with after taking the plunge on a six-bag order from the manufacturer. And since our order of Penzey's Vegetable Stock had also arrived in the interim, he decided to soak the curls in veggie broth, rather than plain water, and see how that affected their flavor.

Answer: a lot. I would say these broth-soaked soy curls were significantly more flavorful than plain chicken would be, and the texture, as always, was about indistinguishable. And because he served them in a sort of Thai stir-fry with the chopped eggplant, garlic, Thai basil, and a Takara Shishito pepper (a mild chili), the dish as a whole was absolutely packed with flavor and the contrasting textures of silky eggplant and chewy soy curls.

All in all, this was a recipe we're much more likely to make again — and one I deemed worthy of reproducing here on the blog in its entirety. So here, without further ado, is:

BRIAN'S THAI EGGPLANT AND SOY CURLS

For the soy curls:

Dissolve 3/4 tsp. Penzey's Veggie Soup Base in 1 cup water and microwave on high for one minute. Submerge 2 oz. Butler Soy Curls in this mixture and let them soak for about 10 minutes. Remove hydrated curls and gently press with a slotted spoon, reserving all the liquid (this is important!). Sprinkle 3 Tbsp. corn starch on the soy curls, toss to coat, and fry in 2-3 Tbsp. canola oil until crisp and just beginning to brown. Set aside.

For the sauce:

Combine 2 Tbsp. brown sugar, 3 Tbsp. fish sauce (or a vegan equivalent), and the leftover soaking liquid from the soy curls. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

For the stir fry:

Dice 1 eggplant (about 1 pound) into roughly 1/2" cubes and chop 1/4 cup Thai basil leaves. Finely chop 1 Takara Shishito pepper (seeds removed) or other mild chili pepper and 3 cloves garlic. Add  pepper to the remaining oil in the pan and try for one minute. Add garlic and eggplant and fry until eggplant is soft but not mushy. Add the sauce and mix, stirring until sauce begins to boil. Add soy curls and stir until sauce thickens. Add basil, stir, and remove from heat.

Serve over rice.