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Tofu Turkeys
At Elias' house they think it's a big joke to make turkeys out
of tofu. It's fun and it also keeps grandmas and other relatives
from saying, “What, you're not eating any turkey!”
We used tamari in this recipe. Tamari is a strong Japanese soy
sauce that can be found in many grocery stores in the Asian food
aisle or in Asian grocery stores. It's also available on-line.
If you can't find it you can use regular soy sauce –low
sodium is best.
Makes 6-8 tofu turkeys
You'll need:
- 1 pound of extra firm tofu
- 1 large onion - finely diced
- 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon of thyme
- 2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons of vinegar
- 2 - 4 teaspoons of tamari (strong Japanese soy sauce)
- 1/4-1/2 cup of broth (use boullion)
- Sweet red, green and yellow peppers –one each
- Celery leaves –the inside yellow ones are best
- Olive oil
- Cooking spray
- Paper towels
Equipment:
- Butter knife
- Cutting board
- Cookie sheet
- Heavy books
- A large bowl
- A ¼ or ½ cup scoop or oval domed mold
- Slice the tofu into big ¾ inch thick slabs. Put it
on a cutting board and cover it with paper towels. Lay a cookie
sheet on top and put heavy objects, like books, on top of that.
Press the tofu for about ½ hour before you start. You
can do your other preparations while the tofu is pressing.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C.
- While the oven is coming to up to temperature, sauteé the
onion in olive oil.
- Spray a cookie sheet with oil.
- Crumble the tofu into the large bowl and add the breadcrumbs,
thyme, whole wheat flour, eggs, vinegar and tamari. Mix with
a large spoon or your hands.
- Drizzle a enough broth over the mixture to make it stick
together without getting too wet.
- Use the scoop as a mold, packing in mixture and turning it
out onto the cookie sheet.
- Bake about 20 minutes or until springy when poked with finger.
- Meawhile, cut the colored peppers into thin triangles with
one sharp point. If you plan your cuts ahead of time,
you can use the curve at the top of the pepper to form the
turkeys' heads and necks. The rest can be cut into “feathers”for
the turkey's tail.
- When the tofu loaves come out of the oven, carefully poke
the peppers into the mound to form your turkey, complete with
head, neck and tail feathers!
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