I have a soft spot in my heart for Tofurky-so much, in fact, that I thought I would try making my own version this year! Bryanna Clark Groggan offers a well-tested recipe with extensive variations that looks pretty good to me. Generally, it's a combination of tofu and wheat gluten, to make a turkey that has some firmness, but is supposed to be more tender because of the addition of tofu.
Other items on my Thanksgiving '09 menu include: roasted brussels, butternut squash, parsnip, & carrot with pecans and maple glaze; mashed potatoes with crispy shallots; brown herb gravy; and cranberry chutney.
So, in case you want to give it a whirl yourself, here's an abbreviated version of her recipe that I'm gonna try...
Dry ingredients:
2 cups pure gluten powder (instant gluten flour; vital wheat gluten)
1/2 cups full-fat soy flour OR chickpea flour
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic granules
1/4 tsp. white pepper
Wet ingredients:
12 oz. firm regular tofu
1 and 1/2 c. water
3 T. soy sauce
1 T. olive oil
Basting liquid:
2 cups hot water (hot water dissolves the broth powder)
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 T. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
Blend all the wet ingredients in a blender until very smooth. Mix all of the dry ingredients in the bowl of your electric mixer (or bread machine) with dough hook attachment. Add the wet ingredients and knead for about 10 minutes. Let rest for about 1 hour, covered. If you are like me, you can also knead by hand. Seitan dough is real tough and rubbery so I'm not looking forward to this step. Bryanna reccommends letting the seitan dough sit for a while to soak up the liquid more thoroughly before hand-kneading. The dough should be quite shiny and smooth.
Line a large, greased ceramic baking dish with parchment paper. (Bryanna recommends soaking the clay kind in water before baking.) Flatten the dough out and form into a large loaf. Pour the basting broth over the roast, and cover. Place into a cold oven and turn on to 325 degrees. Bake for 3 and 1/2 hours (or longer until all broth is absorbed), turning the roast over once after 1 1/2 hours, and once again after 1 more hour.
She also suggests an option to add a "tofu skin," by wrapping the cooked tofurky with chinese beancurd sheets. Sounds interesting, huh? I picked up some fresh beancurd sheets at May Hua in Plano. Wrap the turkey on a new baking dish or pan, and brush lightly with olive oil. Bake again on 325 for about 1 hr or until crispy.
Happy Tofu Turkey Day, y'all!
Spec's takes over Plano's venerable Mister G's
17 hours ago
what no stuffing??? that's always been my favorite (and sweet potatoes). I assume you mean "chicken broth"??? :)
ReplyDeleteLooks good - I've wanted to try something like this before, but it definitely looks like a lot of work. I love the 'tofurky' part of the tofurky loaf, but I can't stand that wild-rice crap in the center. I wish they'd just make the loaf by itself.
Aha! I love the stuffing, as well. This year the "in-laws" are making that, so I didnt include it. But, I guess I should have mentioned it. No sweet potatoes, however. My folks are bringing vegan pumpkin and pecan pies.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, I do mean chik'un broth. The Whole Foods kind without salt, to be precise. Bryanna is very specific about hers, so I hope it works.
That sounds AWESOME, Drew!
ReplyDeleteDo you guys have a recipe for a vegan chess pie?
ReplyDeleteYou know what - no I dont have a chess pie recipe, nor can I say I ever remember eating one. But, I know that chess pie is very similar to pecan, so I'm thinking you could probably modify Bryanna's a bit to suit your liking. They followed her recipe pretty much - with a nice dollop of Ricewhip and a scoop of vanilla Soycream, too!
ReplyDelete