Some days, you just have to cover something in breadcrumbs and fry it. As a vegetarian, you don’t get a Schnitzel-fix very often, which is a good thing in principle. I used to be a huge fan of Schnitzel when I was a child and still ate meat. Over the years I’ve covered many things in breadcrumbs and fried them, e.g. cerely. It never occurred to me to try this with tofu until the other day.

I have been marinating tofu prior to preparing it for years, and I always use the same marinade: white wine, vegetable broth, garlic and onion powder (yeah, but it works!), salt, pepper and chili flakes. It is best to allow the tofu to marinate overnight, but sometimes, e.g. while making dinner on a week day, it’s not possible to plan/shop ahead that far, so letting the tofu soak in its marinade for fifteen minutes can do the trick, even if it’s not as flavorful as a 24-hour-soak. I used to just fry the marinated tofu slices in a small piece of butter, and I recommend you try this for a leaner version of this recipe.

You should serve these Schnitzel the second they come out of the pan and sadly, I think they don’t do well in the fridge (the breadcrumb coating is no longer crispy, it kind of bloats and then peels off the tofu).

Since tofu covered in breadcrumbs and then fried in lots of oil is not a particularly healthy thing to eat, I tried to balance it out with steamed green beans and brown rice – yum! By the way, I really enjoy brown rice from the Davert brand. It’s has a very crunchy texture and it is not at all watery or gooey.Yoshi loves it when I clean vegetables that are green, and if I don’t share with him out of free will, he will chase me down take it himself. He is very determined, he’s known to land on my left hand (which is a bit dangerous when I have a knife in my right hand). He is also concerned that we might steal the goodies back. So off to his cage he goes with his new meal – better to be safe than sorry, eh?!

Ingredients for six Tofu Schnitzel (or twelve Tofu Nuggets):

400g firm tofu in a block (that’s a little less than a pound, I love the Taifun brand)

For the marinade:
½ cup dry white wine
1 tbsp of dry garlic and roasted garlic powder each
1 tbsp vegetable broth powder (or ½ cup vegetable broth)
salt, pepper and chilli flakes to taste (but you want to add more pepper and chilli flakes that you think is sensible for best results)

1 whole egg (for a vegan option mix a bit of water with gluten-free flour and cover tofu with this to replace the egg)
gluten-free breadcrumbs (I love the Bauckhof brand, but used Schaer’s breadcrumbs this time)

Vegetable oil (for frying)

Cut your block of tofu into six slices (or twelve, for nuggets). The slices will be about 1 to 1,5 cm thick.

Place all of the ingredients for the marinade into a square bowl (e.g. a large Tupperware dish) and mix well. Soak the tofu slices in it for at least fifteen minutes, preferably overnight. The liquid should cover all of the tofu. If this is not the case, you can add a bit of water or more wine. I also suggest moving the tofu slices around the marinate and turning them, in order to get a bit of garlic and onion powder on each of the slices. Prepare two dishes, preferably a small flat dish and a bowl. Pour a generous mound of gluten-free breadcrumbs into the flat plate, and whisk the egg into the bowl.

Take a slice of marinated tofu (preferably from the bottom, if you have been soaking only for a little while), pad it off with the help of a kitchen towel. Place tofu slice into the bowl with the egg, and cover entirely in egg. Remove tofu slice and place onto mound of gluten-free bread crumbs. Cover tofu slice entirely in bread crumbs. I suggest really pressing the crumbs into the tofu and ensuring that all of the tofu is covered entirely in bread crumbs (with this I mean particularly the very thin sides of the slice). Repeat with the rest of the tofu slices until all of them are covered in bread crumbs.

Heat a pan, add a generous chug of vegetable oil and wait until the oil is really hot. Add your tofu schnitzel, and fry on both sides until golden brown. Remove from pan, and drain your schnitzel from on a paper towel and serve!

Enjoy! 🙂