Thursday, May 30, 2013

BBQ Tofu Sliders!



BBQ Tofu Sliders:

Organic extra firm tofu
Organic slider rolls
1/2 cup favorite organic vegan BBQ sauce 
Organic avocado
Organic vegan mozzarella 

First, slice tofu block from container into 9 sections, 3 lengthwise, 3 width-wise and place them on a paper towel leaving about an inch or two in between each slice. Cover and press lightly with another piece of paper towel to remove excess liquid.

Next, marinate the tofu in your favorite BBQ sauce, measuring the anount you use at the beginning to track nutritional information. I suggest beginning with 1/2 cup of sauce per package of tofu. My favorite marinating method for tofu is to use a reusable container with lid, add an initial layer BBQ sauce, and then place tofu into container in layers that alternate in direction, covering each layer with sauce until all tofu is in the container. Set aside and rotate container about every 5 minutes during remainder of prep.

Once tofu is marinating, place grill pan on stove over medium heat and coat with organic extra virgin olive oil (not more than 2 tablespoons), or prepare your panini press how you normally would for grilling. If you are not using a spray olive oil container, I suggest using a paper towel to very lightly coat the pan to prevent the excessive use of olive oil. Test the heat of the pan by dabbing a small amount of BBQ sauce in the middle, once it sizzles, the pan is ready.

Place each piece of tofu on the pan and cook until grill marks appear on one side. Check it for grill marks occasionally by gently lifting the end of the tofu slice. Each side should take about 5 minutes. Once gril marks appear, flip the slice and allow the other side to cook until grill marks appear as well. Feel free to add some extra BBQ sauce to each side as the tofu cooks. To determine nutrition information for the amount of sauce used, simply measure the amount you have left in the container after tofu is finished cooking and subtract it from the amount you started with. 

While tofu is cooking, prepare sliders by slicing bread in half and layering with thinly sliced avocado (1/4 of the avocado in each slider), spinach, and sliced mozzarella (use about 1/2 of the serving size  your container suggests for each slider). The slider tends to stay together best when layered in that order, or even if the avocado is kept on the side. Once the tofu is complete, layer about 2 slices per slider and enjoy!

Serving size - 2 sliders! These pair great with some fresh mixed greens and veggies!