Veggie interpretation of a southern meal

Tonight's dinner was chicken fried tofu and spicy sweet potato oven fries. YUM!

First the oven fries:

1 sweet potato, cut into fry-sized sticks
salt
pepper
cinnamon
1 chipotle finely minced (from a can, in adobo sauce)
peanut oil

Preheat the oven to 450F. Put the sweet potato sticks into a microwave safe bowl and cover with water. Microwave on high for 6-10 minutes, until the sweet potato is cooked, but firm. Drain thoroughly and allow to cool on a rack. While cooling, sprinkle liberally with salt and black pepper, sprinkle very lightly with cinnamon. After cooling, put into a bowl and add the chipotle, gently tossing with your fingers until thoroughly spread out on the fries. Pour enough oil to lightly cover the fries and again toss with your fingers until covered. Put the rack into a cookie sheet and spread the fries out onto the rack again. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until crisp.


Chicken Fried Tofu Steak

1 block of Extra Firm Tofu
soy
rice vinegar
veggie worchestershire sauce
flour
salt
pepper
cayenne
egg, beaten

Cut the tofu into steaks, about 1/2" thick. Layer the tofu in a very absorbent tea towel and weight it down to remove the moisture--let stand for about 45-60 minutes. Mix 2-3 Tbls soy, 1 Tbl vinegar and 1 tsp worchestershire sauce. Put the prepared tofu steaks in this mixture for about 10 minutes, turning every minute or two so that all surfaces get soaked. Remove from the soy mixture and pat dry with a paper towel. Season the flour with salt, pepper, and cayenne and mix thoroughly. Put the flour into a wide dish. Put the egg in a second wide dish. Heat about 1/4" oil in a heavy bottom frying pan to between 350-375F. Dredge the tofu into the flour and gently shake off the excess. Dip the tofu into the egg mixture, coating throughly. Dredge the egg-covered tofu through the flour again and gently place into the hot oil. Fry on one side until golden brown, approximately 3-4 minutes. Gently flip and fry on the other side until golden brown. Remove to a paper towel to drain. (Repeat with other tofu steaks. You can do 2-3 at a time depending upon the size of your frying pan.)