A true British classic, the mighty fish and chips – sorry, I mean Vegan Fish and Chips! When you go to a chippy and order a portion of these, the content squeezed between the layers of paper (newspaper back in the day) consist of the biggest ever fillet of fish you could imagine, drenched and deep fried in crispy batter sitting on top of a huge mound of chunky potato chips.
I thought as a vegan I would no longer have the pleasure of tucking into fish and chips- how wrong was I?! Well the fish isn’t actually from the sea or river since it’s made of tofu, but the technique used to prep it gives a texture that’s pretty damn close to the real thing.
Made with just 5 ingredients, it’s a shocker! Try it out for yourself.
Questions about Fish and Chips
How do you make fish and chips? The traditional recipe usually involves a large fillet of white fish such as cod, plaice or haddock that is deep fried after being dipped in a typical egg and flour batter. It is served alongside chunky chips made with white potatoes, also deep fried, sprinkled with plenty of salt and malt vinegar. A pot of mushy peas or curry sauce are also common sides.
How to make vegan fish and chips? To make vegan fish and chips you will need firm tofu that has been frozen and then thawed. Squeeze out all of the water from the tofu. Cut a slice of nori seaweed sheet to fit the bottom of the sliced firm tofu. For the batter, add beer to plain flour and dip the tofu fillet into this batter. Fry in hot oil for 5 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. For the chips you will need potato cut into large chunky strips. You can drizzle with oil and bake for 40 minutes or throw them in the pan with hot oil (or deep fat fryer) for 5 minutes.
How do I change tofu texture? Freezing tofu, thawing it and squeezing out the water, gives tofu that flaky meaty texture. Tofu contains a lot of water which is what makes it quite jelly-like, but when this water is removed, a lot of empty space is left behind, creating these layers.
Can I use silken tofu? Silken tofu has a much more liquid texture and will unlikely resemble the same texture as firm tofu in this recipe.
Can fish and chips be baked? Both can be baked, in fact I often bake my chips as frying bulks up the fat content significantly. However, the batter used for the fish is quite runny and benefits from coming into contact with high temperatures quite quickly to get it very crispy. A thicker batter could tolerate the oven. Frying also is much quicker than oven baking.
Vegan Fish and Chips Recipe
Serving size:
Serves 4
Ingredients for Vegan Fish and Chips:
- 800g firm tofu
- 4 large potatoes cut into long strips
- 450 ml beer/ale/sparkling water
- 250g plain flour
- 1 sheet nori seaweed
- Rapeseed or vegetable oil to deep fry
- Salt and vinegar to taste
Method:
- Place the tofu in the freezer the night before.
- Remove and allow to thaw.
- Once defrosted, squeeze out all of the water, being careful not to rip it.
- Cut the tofu into 4 rough chunks.
- Preheat oven to 220 ℃.
- Place potato chips into baking tray with drizzle of oil and roast for 30 minutes, turning halfway.
- Cut the seaweed sheet into 4 pieces to roughly fit one side of the tofu.
- Place on top, using a little water if necessary, to stick the sheet onto the tofu surface.
- Whisk the beer and flour together until a creamy batter results and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
- Heat a pan full of oil, ready to deep fry.
- Dip the tofu chunks into the batter, one by one, and place in the hot oil.
- Cook for around 5-10 minutes or until batter is golden brown.
- Serve the fish with the chips and sprinkle with salt and vinegar.
Made this Recipe?
If you had a go at these Vegan Fish and Chips please feel free to give me a shout on Instagram at @food_flaneur – would love to see your pics!
If you like things in batter or breadcrumbs…
You should definitely give these recipes a try:
Big Thanks to…
Avant Garde Vegan for my food inspo. You can find his recipe here: https://www.avantgardevegan.com/recipes/gazs-fish-chips/.
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