Smoked Tofu Dogs with Homemade Ketchup and Beer Mustard

I had the taste for some All-American diner type food the other week, vegetarian style. I had seen numerous recipes for Tofu Dogs over the last few moths but have always dismissed trying them out as they always sounded a little too labour intensive. Well it turns out that they aren't too time consuming and can be kept in the fridge for a quick, tasty snack. I'd recommend trying them out and also having a shot at throwing together your own homemade condiments. 

The condiment recipes are not my own, I found the recipe for the Ketchup over on a food blog called Simply Scratch, I'd highly recommend checking their blog out for an absolutely huge collection of top recipe ideas. The Beer Mustard comes from the BBC's Mairi Wilson, and is very straight forward to make and delicious. I did however scale down the recipe slightly and added a little dried dill but I still ended up with two fairly large jars of Mustard.

The recipes for the Ketchup and the Tofu Dogs are both suitable for vegans. The Beer Mustard however, is not, simply replace the honey with Agave Nectar or other Honey substitute.

Ingredients for the Beer Mustard - 

100g Black Mustard Seeds

100g Yellow Mustard Seeds

500ml Ale

100ml White Wine Vinegar

1tsp Ground Sea Salt

Pinch of Chilli Flakes

3tbsp Runny Honey

1tbsp Ground Nutmeg

1tsp Dried Dill

2 med sized Sterilised Jars, for storing

For the full, original recipe visit the BBC's Food section here.

This Mustard is very easy to throw together and would make a great addition to any Christmas food hamper. To begin simply place your Mustard Seeds into a bowl and cover with the beer. Now all you need to do is allow this to soak overnight, you will notice the Mustard Seeds will swell as they begin to take on the liquid. 

Ensure you have sterilised jars at the ready before undertaking the next step. Once soaked, simply mix in the remaining ingredients and blend until nearly smooth. You can choose to blend more or less depending on your desired consistency and texture. When fully blended, place into the jars, seal and refrigerate until use.

Ingredients for the Ketchup -

2x 130g tubes Tomato Purée 
125g Dark Brown Sugar
½tsp Mustard Powder
½tsp Ground Sea Salt
¼tsp Garlic Salt
¼tsp Celery Salt

Pinch of Ground Cloves

Pinch of Ground Allspice
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper/Chilli Powder
4tbsp White Wine Vinegar
150ml Water (May require more depending on consistency)
2 med sized Sterilised Jars, for storing

For the full, original recipe visit Simply Scratch here.

Add the Tomato Purée to a large bowl with all of the dry ingredients.

Add in half of the water and the 4tbsp of White Wine Vinegar, you can always add in the remainder of the water if the Ketchup is too thick. Stir well, until the sugar is completely dissolved, you may find it easier to use a whisk rather than a spoon as this will blend it more thoroughly.

Once mixed successfully, have a little taste test as now is the time to add any extra ingredients you feel the ketchup may need before transferring the mix into sterilised jars. Why not add some Chilli Powder for a Ketchup with a kick or some Smoked Paprika for a Barbeque-esque Ketchup?

Ingredients for the Tofu Dogs and Chips -

Makes 6 Tofu Dogs

250g Smoked Tofu, mashed
4 med sized Potatoes, peeled
3 heaped tbsp Wholemeal Flour
6 large Pickled Onions, sliced
¼tsp Garlic Salt

Dash of Vegan Worcestershire Sauce

Dash of Chilli Sauce - Cholula (or a pinch of Chilli Powder)
6x sheets of Tin Foil
6x sheets of Greaseproof Paper
Bread Rolls or Baguettes
Black Pepper, to taste
Oil, for frying

For the Chips -

6 med Sized Potatoes, sliced
Oil, for roasting
Salt & Vinegar, to season

Add the tofu to a large bowl with the Worcestershire Sauce, Chilli Sauce and Garlic Salt and mash well with a fork or potato masher. Add the peeled potatoes to a pan of water, bring to the boil and cook for around 15-20mins until soft.

Next, begin to mash the potatoes before adding in the Tofu, continue to mash until thoroughly mixed.

Add in the 3tbsp of Wholemeal flour and mix thoroughly once more, you will notice the mixture beginning to thicken.

Cut your Greaseproof Paper and Tin Foil to size before continuing. You want the Greaseproof Paper to be longer than the desired length of your Tofu Dogs and then the Tin Foil needs to be big enough to wrap the whole thing together before being cooked. Dust the Greaseproof Paper with a little more flour and turn out around 3tbsp worth of Potato/Tofu mix onto the Paper and shape by hand before rolling up.

Now, roll the tinfoil around the Tofu Dog before twisting the ends, these can be easily stored in the fridge once cooled and popped into the oven whenever you're peckish. Cook for around 15mins at 180ºc.

To make the chips, simply slice your remaining Potatoes, add to a pan of boiling water and parboil for 7mins. Whilst the Potatoes are cooking you should preheat the oven to 180ºc.

Drain the potatoes and place in a roasting dish before drizzling with Oil and seasoning with a little Salt and Vinegar. For the perfect Chips, cook for 30-40 mins, until golden brown, make sure to turn regularly for an even crispness. I personally prefer to season the Chips with Vinegar whilst they are cooking in the oven as the flavour cooks into the chips without making them too soggy.

Fry the Pickled Onions with a little black pepper, these will make a great Tofu Dog garnish. Why not try adding Pickles, Salad or Chutney as well?

The Tofu Dogs will be fine to eat straight from the oven but I found that they were a little soft, so I seared them over a high heat in a griddle pan for a few minutes in order to harden the outer layer.

Serve in a crusty Baguette with a side salad and your homemade condiments.

Many thanks, once again to Simply Scratch and the BBC

Have a nice day y'all!

JAB

Veggie Poutine or "O Canada"

This recipe is a culinary flashback to our summer holiday, a dish we enjoyed in New York having missed the chance to sample the real thing it in its native Canada (probably sacrilege, I realise). Anyhow, an interesting combination that I would probably have never put together. Chips, Cheese and Gravy. Sadly not vegan I'm afraid, a fairly straightforward recipe that uses pretty much the same gravy recipe from the Christmas Nut Roast. (it should also be noted that I have replaced the traditional cheese curds with Halloumi Cheese)

Serves 2.

Ingredients -

175g Halloumi, cut into small cubes
5 Medium potatoes, chopped into chips (roughly 1.5cm thickness)
200g closed cup mushrooms, cut into quarters
Oil, for frying
Salt and Pepper to taste

For the Gravy -

Oil, for frying

2x Small Onions, roughly chopped

2x Garlic Cloves, roughly chopped

1x heaped tbsp plain flour

1x tsp Marmite (or similar yeast extract)

450ml Veg Stock

1x tsp Dark Soy Sauce

1x tsp (Vegan) Worcestershire Sauce

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method - To begin, prepare the potatoes and bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add in the potatoes and parboil for around 5 minutes. Whilst cooking, preheat the oven to 180°c. When parboiled, drain the potatoes, place onto a baking tray, drizzle with a little oil and season with rock salt before placing them into the preheated oven. Depending on the thickness of the chips, cooking time will vary. If you are producing similarly sized chips, I would recommend a cooking time of roughly 40-50 minutes, turning the chips occasionally in order to ensure a good, evenly browned chip.

Whilst the chips are cooking you can prepare the mushrooms by cutting into quarters, placing in a small frying pan and adding a little oil and cracked black pepper. Also, prepare the Halloumi cheese by cutting into small cubes and placing into a foiled grill pan. Both the mushrooms and Halloumi will not need to be cooked until the chips are nearly completed. So now you can get on with the preparation of the gravy.

There's no need to finely chop anything for this recipe as you can blend the final mixture for a rich, creamy gravy.

Roughly chop the onions and garlic and fry in a little oil at a medium heat for around 5 minutes until they begin to soften, now gradually sprinkle over the plain flour allowing the onions to brown (you may need to add a little extra oil here if the mixture becomes too dry and begins to burn). It is important to make sure you keep stirring this mixture as the flour can make the onions become very sticky and in turn they will stick to the base of the pan if left for too long.

Now reduce to a low heat and add in the veg stock, Marmite, soy, worcestershire sauce and allow to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. At this point the gravy can be turned to a very low heat to keep it warm until everything else is cooked.

Next, cook the Halloumi under a high grill heat for around ten minutes, turning regularly in order to cook thoroughly until browned (see above picture). Whilst the Halloumi cooks under the grill, cook the mushrooms in a frying pan over a medium to high heat until cooked. 

Once cooked, place the chips into a bowl covering generously with the mushrooms and Halloumi before transferring the gravy mixture to the blender and blending until smooth. Cover the chips, Halloumi and mushrooms with the gravy and add any extra salt and pepper to taste.

The gravy can always be thinned down with water and seasoned to taste with salt and pepper after completion if you feel that the final outcome is too thick. The gravy can also be refrigerated for a day few days and reheated in a pan or the microwave.

O  Canada.

JAB