Vegan "Chicken" Nuggets

Prep time: 1 hr (not including freezing and defrost time)

Cook time: 10 min

INGREDIENTS

Nuggets

• 1 block of tofu (frozen for 24 hours or overnight and defrosted)

• Neutral cooking oil (about 3-5 cups) you want at least 2 inches of oil in the medium pot.

Marinade

• 1 ½ cups vegetable broth

• ¼ cup water

• 1 tsp vegan chicken-less seasoning powder

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• ½ tsp turmeric (optional for color)

Batter

• ¾ cup all-purpose flour

• 3 tbsp corn starch

• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast

• 1 tbsp ground flax seed

• 1 tsp poultry seasoning (if you don't have this try Italian seasoning)

• 1 tsp black pepper

• ½ tsp garlic powder

• ½ tsp onion powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• ½ tbsp soy sauce

• 1 cup non-dairy milk (like almond or cashew)

For gluten-free substitutes, use gluten-free flour for all-purpose flour. arrowroot flour/starch for corn starch, and tamari for soy sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Freeze the tofu for 12 to 24 hours then take them out and defrost it at least 12 hours before use. Do not forget to freeze the tofu, this makes it spongier to get a similar nugget texture.

2. Open the tofu and strain the liquid. Press the tofu by placing it into a tofu press or fold a dish towel over the tofu and place a couple of heavy plates on top. Let sit for 25 minutes to remove as much liquid as possible.

3. While letting the tofu press, make the marinade by adding all the ingredients into a bowl and stirring to combine.

4. Remove the tofu from the press and tear the tofu by hand into about 1-inch-sized chunks. This will result in about 20 to 30 pieces. Place the tofu pieces into the marinade bowl and let sit for 30 minutes.

5. While the tofu is marinating. make the batter. First, mix together the dry ingredients and spices, and then add in the wet ingredients (milk and soy sauce). You are looking for the batter to be the consistency of thick pancake batter.

6. Once the tofu is about 5 minutes until done from marinating, start to heat the oil in a medium-sized pot (you will want the oil to be at least 2 inches deep).

7. Strain the tofu and add it to the bowl of batter. Mix it very carefully to completely coat the tofu (the tofu is fragile at this point so be careful when mixing).

8. Test the oil by dropping a small dollop of batter into it -

9. If it is hot enough the batter will quickly float after dropping into the pot. When the oil is hot. start taking the coated tofu pieces one by one from the batter and dropping them into the oil (be careful to not splash the oil onto yourself or it will burn you - use a spoon to lower the pieces closer if needed). You don't want to crowd the tofu so do the frying in batches and take them out with a pair of tongs when they are brown and crisp (this will probably take about 2 minutes for each batch). When you take coated tofu from the oil, place them on a drying rack or on a paper towel so the excess oil can drip off.

10. Serve the nuggets with our sweet chili or cajon sauces. Enjoy!