Vegan MoFo: Tea Smoked Tofu

Sometimes I get really good inspiration from reading cooking mags, and one of them just happens to be Donna Hay. Granted, the magazine uses an awful lot of meat, but her tips and techniques are really good, not to mention her flavour combos. I was looking through the June/July issue and spotted the recipe for tea smoked fish. Although I was a bit 'erk' about the fish, I got a bit excited about making my own smoked tofu. Tea + tofu, two of my favourite things! There's lots of how to's on the net, but basically, the idea is to put equal parts of tea, sugar, and rice on some foil, suspend your firm tofu over the top on a greased wire rack (as shown) and heat up on a BBQ, shutting the lid. Folks, this should NOT be done in the kitchen - unless you want a smoked house, and the firies to turn up at your door! I smoked mine for about half an hour. The flavour was subtle, so I think I'll try this one again with a different flavoured tea, and smoke longer, but it was still worth it. Considering smoked tofu at the co op is about 200gr and costs about $8.00, and I can get a 600gr tofu for less than $3.00, I think this is worth pursuing! We made a dinner out of it with celeriac and potato latkes, orange infused beetroot relish, sauteed baby spinach, and vegan sour cream. It was delish!