Vegan Fish & Chips

Introduction:

One of the classic British traditions, fish & chips are a quintessential part of the British cuisine. Created for us by food blogger Avant Garde Vegan, this recipe for vegan fish & chips came about when Gaz (Avant Garde Vegan) went vegan and missed his beloved family favourite! So, vegan fish & chips it was!
The beer batter in this recipe is incredible. Even if you’re not vegan we’d recommend having a go at battering your own fish with this incredible recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 Firm block of Tofu, drained & excess water removed
• 1 Large sheet of Nori
• 1 Lemon, juice only
• 50 g Plain Flour
• 50 g Corn Flour
• 75ml Beer
• 75ml Soda Water
• 5 Rudolph Potatoes
• Pinch of Salt & Pepper
• Pinch of Plain Flour
• 5 tsp Olive Oil
• 1 l Sunflower Oil (for frying the chips if wanted)

Method

1. Firstly, prepare the chips. Wash the potatoes and cut into chip shapes of your choice (thin chips will take a shorter time to cook). Leaving the skin on adds another flavour to the chips, and a little goodness.
2. Add the chips to a large saucepan and cover with water. Add a pinch of salt, then place the pan over a medium heat. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes and then drain. Par boiling the chips helps create a wonderfully soft inside.
3. Place the chips on a non-stick baking tray and drizzle over 4-5 tsp of Olive Oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a pinch of plain flour. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden and crispy. You can deep fry your chips, but oven baking does keep things a little healthier!
4. Whilst your chips are cooking, pour the sunflower oil into a large saucepan or deep fat fryer and heat on a medium-high heat. Make sure you’re only filling a saucepan half full if you are using a pan – just in case it overflows when the fish is added.
5. Whilst the oil heats, cut the tofu block into rectangles, or fillet shapes (whichever you prefer). Using scissors, cut the Nori sheet into pieces the same size as the tofu pieces.
6. Lay the Nori onto the fillet (this resembles fish skin & also has a great flavour of the sea). Squeeze over a little lemon juice and set aside whilst you quickly whisk up your beer batter.
7. For the batter: In a large mixing bowl combine the 50g plain flour, corn flour and a pinch of salt, then add the beer and soda water to the mix. Whisk until it forms a thick batter.
8. At this point the oil should be hot enough to fry (approx. 180 C). Dip the Nori-lined tofu into the batter individually, and add them one at a time to the hot oil. Be very careful not to splash the oil out of the pan.
9. Cook until the batter is golden, then remove the ‘fish’ from the oil carefully and pat off excess oil using clean kitchen paper. Sprinkle with salt.
10. Remove the chips from the oven and serve with the ‘fish’. Enjoy!

Top Tip

If you want to check whether your oil is hot enough for frying:

Deep fat fryer: Check the temperature is at 180 C.

Saucepan: As soon as you see a light haze coming off the top of the oil it will be hot enough. You can always test the heat using a cube of bread. Drop the bread into the oil and if it floats to the top quickly and turns golden your oil is hot enough.

Check out Avant Garde Vegan’s website and Instagram!