My usual way of making tofu burgers is to pan-fry, then marinate and grill, a slab of tofu, as with Teriyaki tofu burgers.

Another way to make tofu burgers is to mash the tofu with other ingredients, then form into burgers. I’ve tried this type of recipe before, and although the resulting burgers have been tasty, they’ve fallen apart in the pan. No way could you grill or barbecue them.

Although some people like to add gluten to soft burgers to firm them up, I have to admit that I am not enamoured of burgers using gluten as a binding agent. I’ve tried several recipes which use that technique, and the burgers always seem dry and just somehow not very appealing.

However, I have now discovered the secret to tofu burgers that are firm enough to grill or barbecue. Thanks to Sunset magazine for creating this recipe. The only modification I did was to use a homemade vegan substitute for the egg.

You must use a food processor to blend the ingredients into a homogenous sort of dough. (Don’t try a blender; it won’t work.) This dough, which looks far too soft to make burgers, never mind firm burgers, magically firms up when gently pan-fried. After which the burgers can be a) eaten; b) grilled; c) barbecued; or d) breaded and re-fried. I’ve only tried a) myself.

These tofu burgers could be made gluten-free by using gluten-free breadcrumbs.

The original recipe didn’t say to grind the cashews and sunflower seeds before adding to the other ingredients, but I did this anyway. I’ll try it their way next time.

A note on substitutions: if you are going to use a different mixture of nuts/seeds, you may need to adjust the recipe. I tried a variation using all cashews, instead of half cashews and half sunflower seeds, and the mixture was a softer and needed more breadcrumbs to make it firm enough to handle.

About the egg substitute: I came up with a vegan egg substitute that uses gram flour (aka chickpea flour, besan) plus a little arrowroot, mixed with water. It works a treat in this recipe: when cooked, the besan and arrowroot bind the other ingredients together. If you’re not familiar with using besan in recipes, be aware that it has a bit of a odd taste when raw (which disappears when cooking). Keep that in mind if you are tasting the uncooked dough.

Grillable tofu burgers

1. Make the egg substitute: Whisk together the besan and arrowroot. Add two tablespoons of water and whisk until smooth. Add the additional tablespoon of water and whisk again.

2. Combine all ingredients, except oil, in a food processor until smooth. The dough will form into a ball. It will look and feel too soft to make burgers, but do not despair, as it firms up a lot when cooked.

3. Heat up a heavy cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Add a bit of olive oil and spread it around the pan. You can now either form the mixture into burgers with your hands (lightly oil your hands to keep the mixture from sticking), or simply plop dollops of the mixture into the frying pan and shape into burgers in the pan. Make three or four burgers depending on how big you want them.

4. Cook, turning once, until lightly browned on both sides and firm to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes total.

Can be served as is, grilled or barbecued.

Makes three or four burgers.

Last night, I decided, was going to be curry night, and Mr Thrifty concurred as he is always up for a good curry. I made an old favourite, and tried a couple of new dishes too.

I’ve made Succulent mountain mushrooms several times before; it’s easy and tastes waaay better than the mushroom dishes that our takeaway does (for starters, it isn’t swimming in oil… why do some restaurants think everything tastes better with a slick of oil on it?)

Then I tried my hand at tandoori tofu kebabs. They were really good, but somehow were lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. Perhaps because I forgot to sprinkle them with lemon juice & coarse salt before serving. Oops. Also, I think I pressed the tofu a bit too much, so I might skip that step next time.

I also wanted to make something with potatoes (cuz, ya just gotta have potatoes when you have a curry), and settled on Potatoes cooked with mustard seeds, from Madhur Jaffrey’s Eastern Vegetarian Cooking. The potatoes were golden and crunchy and delicious, and I’ll definitely be adding them to my rotation of Indian dishes.

This isn’t a very authentic Mexican recipe, as I’m pretty sure tofu isn’t used at all in traditional Mexican cuisine. However, it is exceedingly tasty.

I based my recipe on one from Matt of My Veggie Kitchen. His Cheezy tofu enchiladas looked and sounded so yummy, I knew I had to make them.

I modified Matt’s recipe a bit. I sauteed the onion in olive oil instead of just simmering it in the enchilada sauce. I also added red pepper and garlic. I didn’t have any salsa on hand, so I used fresh tomatoes instead. I omitted the olives (though next time, I would use them). To add more flavour, I scrambled the tofu instead of just crumbling it in straight from the package.

I used jarred enchilada sauce instead of a homemade one.

Matt’s Nacho cheeze sauce was great; because I couldn’t find pimentos or diced green chillies, I substituted a bit of red pepper simmered in water to replace those ingredients. I used twice the amount of nacho sauce for the enchiladas: 1 cup nacho sauce for half a recipe of enchiladas.

The package of organic flour tortillas I bought contained six tortillas, so I used all of them for half a recipe; this made enough for three servings.

The enchiladas were so delicious, I had to stop myself from having thirds (no hope for avoiding seconds).

A very successful result… thanks, Matt!

I’ve been wanting to make peanut sauce for awhile now, so I decided to go to Indonesia for inspiration and a recipe. (I didn’t literally go to Indonesia, of course… that would just be silly.)

The recipe is from Vegetarian Times. I used to buy VT, many moons ago, but found the recipes kind of hit and miss. This one sounded like a winner, though.

My changes: I used onion instead of shallot; 1/2 sachet of coconut cream mixed with water instead of 1/2 cup coconut milk; added an extra tablespoon of soy sauce; omitted the lime juice (because I forgot) and the sugar (the sauce seemed sweet enough without it).

I served the peanut sauce over pan-fried tofu, plus greens from our allotment (spinach, perpetual spinach, turnip greens, broccoletto and chinese cabbage), a few ’shrooms and a package of baby corn. And rice.

The verdict? In a word: spectacular. Mr Thrifty even finished the leftover sauce with a bit of bread, followed by scraping the pot with a spoon.

The only problem with it is that the calorie content is probably quite significant.

But so worth it.

We decided to have another curry tonight, this time using a Malaysian recipe. I’m not sure how authentic tofu is in a Malaysian curry, but it looked and sounded good.

The recipe is from Cauldron tofu, and the only changes I made were to use creamed coconut mixed with water rather than coconut milk; and to fry my own tofu instead of using pre-fried tofu. Also I made half the recipe to make two servings instead of four.

All I can say is, WOW! The curry was bursting with exotic flavours and proved to be very more-ish.

I served it with a variation of Malaysian Kang Kong (love that name!), which is chilli fried spinach. Instead of spinach, I used a mix of greens because we have a lot of them at the allotment at the moment: spinach, perpetual spinach, amaranth, turnip greens, chinese cabbage and broccoletto. I used the same technique that I usually use for stir-fried greens: blanch them for a minute, rinse in cold water and squeeze the water out. Then stir-fry minced garlic and fresh chilli in groundnut oil for a minute, add the greens and cook until they are hot. Season with salt and a bit of sugar.

The greens were also scrumptious. I served the curry and greens in our Buddha bowls with plain rice.

It was my first time trying Malaysian food, but if it’s all this tasty, I shall be trying more recipes soon!

It’s barbecue season (yay!) and a few nights ago we decided to fire up our Woki-Wok.

(The Woki-Wok is our super-cool barbecue that can also be used as a wok, grill, steamer, smoker, griddle, etc etc. It came with an ENORMOUS cast iron wok which is now an indispensible part of the Thrifty kitchen. Though the Woki-Wok retails for around £150, we got ours last summer for a bargain £50 from eBay. Check it out if you are in the market for a new barbecue.)

I had a hankering for a big slab o’ tofu on the barbie. When I’ve baked or barbecued tofu in the past, I’ve always been a bit disappointed at how it’s turned out. The marinade/sauce never seemed to be committed to becoming one with the tofu, if you know what I mean.

Then I discovered the secrets to happy conjugal tofu-marinade relations.

You have to first press, and then gently pan-fry the tofu before you marinate it. The marinade should also have a bit of body to it, so that when you barbecue the tofu, it forms a delicious crust. The idea for the technique came from Out of the Frying Pan.

I adapted the marinade recipe from here.

Be warned, it is a VERY salty marinade. You wouldn’t want to use it as a sauce. But because tofu is completely bland, it doesn’t taste too salty with this marinade.

Teriyaki tofu burgers

1. Cut the tofu into burger-sized slabs. The tofu I buy comes in a block that is about 10cm (4″) square, by 2.5cm (1″) thick. I slice it through the thickness so that I end up with two pieces that are 10cm square by 1.2cm thick (4″ square by 1/2″ thick).

2. Next, press some of the moisture out of the tofu to make it firmer. (If you are using tofu that is already very firm, you can probably omit this step.) Lay a kitchen towel, folded in half, onto a baking tray. Lay the tofu, in a single layer,  on top of the towel, then fold the other half of the towel over the tofu. You will now have a double layer of towel both underneath and on top of the tofu. Lay another tray on top of the tofu, then put something heavy on the tray (I use a couple of 5 litre (160 oz) tins of olive oil). Leave for 1/2 hour to one hour.

3. When tofu has finished being pressed, heat a bit of oil (I used groundnut/peanut) in a heavy skillet. Gently saute the tofu until it is a light golden colour, then flip and saute the other side. Remove from skillet and place in a single layer in a shallow dish or plate.

4. Spread a thin layer of marinade over the tofu, then flip it over in the dish and spread more on top. Let it sit for 1/2 hour.

5. Cook on a barbecue until the coating has caramelised onto the tofu, about 20 minutes (this will depend on how hot the barbecue is). Watch it closely to ensure it doesn’t burn.

Makes two servings.



Teriyaki marinade

1. Simmer mirin in a pan for 8-10 minutes. Add soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and pepper, and simmer another 5 minutes.

2. Mix cornflour (cornstarch) with a teaspoon or two of water. Add it to the simmering marinade, whisking constantly, until thickened.

This is more than you will need for two servings of tofu; store extra marinade in a glass jar in the fridge.