- [Narrator] Here is the next dish.
- Excuse me?
(laughs)
- One of Paul McCartney's favorite dishes.
- Breakfast of champions.
- Exquisite.
This is tofu guys.
- Oh, sexy.
- [Liz] Veganism has come a long way.
- Mm!
- [Tanika] Today we're here to try each other's tofu dishes.
We're gonna rate them out of ten,
and the person with the highest score will be the winner.
- Hi, I'm Sina.
I run Nutie, a gluten-free and mostly vegan
bakery and cafe here in Sydney.
- G'day, my name's Scott.
I'm the executive chef of Flave,
which is a new plant-based restaurant in Bondi Beach.
We do burgers, bowls, food from all over the world.
- Hey, I'm Liz.
I'm a food blogger and recipe developer.
I cook delicious vegan and plant-based recipes
and post them all over social media.
- I love tofu.
- It's nostalgic for me.
- It's simple, it's cheap.
You can use it in sweet, in savory,
across all different cuisines.
- It's like a blank canvas,
so it's really all in the marinade.
It is a way for the future, being cruelty free, of course,
and it's really rewarding
to also show people how tasty it is.
- I am ready to try some tofu.
- Today, I'm gonna be making a Japanese "tuna" burger
and I'm gonna be making tuna from tofu.
Being on tour with Paul McCartney, 2011,
and he asked me to recreate a sushi buffet for 300 people.
So that's when I first designed the tuna made out of tofu.
All right, first up, we're gonna dice our firm tofu,
about a half centimeter in size.
Then we're gonna marinate the tofu and tomato
with a mix of water, ground nori, sesame oil,
Hungarian paprika, kombu, soy sauce, beetroot powder.
And this is gonna give it the color and flavor of tuna.
We're adding our tomatoes.
We're gonna mix it together.
We're gonna leave it for 24 hours to marinate in the fridge.
So now we're gonna make our tofu tuna mousse.
Add tofu to the blender.
We're gonna add some lemon juice,
some of our tomato marinade.
We're gonna add a bit more beetroot powder
and a bit more Hungarian paprika.
Some wasabi aioli.
Some Sriracha.
We're gonna blend that
until it's smooth and bright pink like tuna.
Put it into a bowl,
and then we're gonna combine it
with the marinated tofu and tomato concasse.
Now to finish off, we're gonna add diced jalapeno,
some lemon zest, togarashi seasoning, chives
and fold that through.
Next, we're going to shallow fry an edamame sushi rice patty
until it's nice and golden brown on each side.
It's about two and a half minutes.
We've got a nice toasted charcoal bun.
So I've got red cabbage that's dressed in a bit of ponzu.
We've got the rice patty on top.
Next up, we've the tuna tofu tartare,
then we're adding some smashed avo to the top of the bun.
We've got some wasabi aioli,
some seaweed salad, pickled ginger.
Then I've made a resembled salmon skin.
So this is basically a piece of nori and cut a triangle,
put into a gluten-free tempura batter,
deep fried and coated with some togarashi seasoning on top.
It's pretty tasty.
We're ready to rock.
It's time for a party in your mouth.
(upbeat orchestral music)
- Excuse me?
- It looks amazing.
- Look at the size of this burger.
- Fat burger.
- I like that this chef has stepped out of the box
and used a charcoal bun.
Activated charcoal doesn't really have a flavor,
but it does give great aesthetics to a dish.
- The smell reminds me of a sushi restaurant.
- I've heard a rumor that this is a tofu tuna burger,
and I've also heard that it is
one of Paul McCartney's favorite dishes.
I don't like the smell or the taste of fish,
so I'm a little bit nervous about trying this.
- Excuse me while I tie up my hair.
Okay, now I'm ready for my burger eating.
(orchestral music swells)
- [All] Mm!
- Wow!
- There is so much texture.
I don't even care how much sauce I have on my face.
- There's crispy from the patty.
There's the creaminess from the avocado sauce,
crunchy crispy from the nori.
- Mm, thank you so much.
- It's messy, but it's delicious.
- Thank you, sir.
- This burger is probably the quirkiest burger
I've ever tasted.
Oh goodness.
(Tamika laughs)
- Definitely doesn't really taste like tofu.
- Reminds me of going out for sushi,
but just in a really, really naughty way.
Just the right amount of fishy for me.
- When I look at this burger, I'm not like,
"wow, the tofu's the best bit."
It's definitely the patty, the nori.
It's not the main character, you know what I mean?
It's like a side character.
It's the best friend.
I think I would give a solid 8.5 as a tofu dish, okay.
- I didn't really know where the tofu was,
but now I've seen it and I've tried it,
I'm fully addicted, I love it.
I'm giving it a 9 out of 10.
- A very well rounded taste experience.
I'll rate this a straight 10 out of 10.
- So the dish that I'm cooking for everyone today is KFT.
That is right.
Kentucky fried tofu.
So the first step for my KFT today
is to break that tofu into chunks.
We want nugget-sized chunks
so that you can really bite into them
To make our spice mix, we need some flour,
some thyme, oregano, onion salt, garlic salt,
paprika, black pepper, some salt.
Mix it all together
and that's what we're dusting our tofu with.
Then we're going to dip those pieces into nutritional yeast,
put it through some barbecue sauce,
then dust it with our flour and spice mix.
And then we are going to deep fry them
in really hot oil until crispy and crunchy.
I'll be serving my delicious KFT today
with a homemade chipotle aioli,
which is just mayonnaise, chipotle peppers,
lime juice, garlic, and salt,
along with a really vibrant zesty apple slaw.
Bon appetit!
- I am seeing a plate of delicious goodness in front of me.
- I love fried anything,
and I feel like tofu is gonna be the star of this dish.
- Hoping for some nice smooth texture on the inside.
(light orchestral music)
- This is it, baby.
Mm, mm, mm.
- Crispy on the outside, not dry in the middle.
Nice texture.
- Even without the sauce, it's already really flavorsome.
- Mm, mm, mm.
- You wouldn't believe it's vegan.
I'm gonna be the only one today that doesn't stop eating.
- So much flavor.
It's not overly seasoned.
I think anyone will like this.
- Yeah, spice coming through on the aioli,
then we've got the crunchy slaw.
Breakfast of champions.
- You do need the slaw to break it up
because it is slightly spicy and a little bit rich.
- If this was available at every pub,
I would be getting it every time.
Pub owners, take note.
- I mean, I love my spice so I could, you know,
go a little bit spicier, but nah,
I think it's well balanced.
I think that apple through the slaw is really nice as well.
Let's go nine, yeah.
- Tofu was the star, which was important for me.
It's a 10, it's a 10.
- I would probably give a tiny hint more acidity
to the slaw just to break it up a little bit,
Both the batter and the sauce are quite rich in spices.
I'll give it 8 out of 10.
- So today, I'm making three minute tofu,
which can be ten minute tofu,
depending on if you wanna make chili oil or not.
So it's a cold tofu dish
and I ate this a lot when I was growing up
and I eat this a lot now
because when things are hectic,
I still need something nourishing.
It's just so good.
So for three minute tofu,
what you wanna do is get silken tofu.
I like the one in a tube
because it cuts into really nice circles.
You're gonna squeeze the silken tofu out onto a plate
and then you're gonna chop it up into little circles.
Shimmy them out so they're in a nice pattern, looks lovely.
Then you're just gonna drizzle on some soy sauce.
We're gonna go in with some sesame oil.
Then we're gonna do some chili oil,
and you can use store bought,
but today I'm making my own, and here's how you do that.
So into a pretty large bowl
you're gonna put some Korean red pepper flakes,
some bay leaves, some star anise, sesame seeds,
ground Sichuan peppercorns, salt,
and some Chinese five spice.
Just give that a little mix.
Next we're gonna heat up some oil
and it's pretty imperative that it is a high heat oil,
something like sunflower or vegetable oil.
You add a large slice of ginger,
and once that goes golden and crispy,
you know your oil is ready to go.
We're gonna fish out the ginger
and then we're gonna pour that hot oil all over the spices.
So when the oil goes in, it's gonna be all bubbly and hot.
Be careful.
You can stir it with some long chopsticks,
but you don't wanna touch it too soon.
Once it cools down, you can transfer it to a jar.
And back to our tofu, okay.
We're gonna garnish with some fried shallots,
some spring onion, and some toasted sesame seeds,
and it's good to go.
Yes, sir.
- Wow. Oh my God.
This is looking absolutely delicious.
I think we've got some silken tofu here.
- Oh my God.
It is saucy, it is moist, it looks sexy.
- My kind of dish.
I love crispy shallots for that texture.
- You have a little bowl of rice to go with it.
The bounce test.
It's soft.
It's like custard.
- [Scott] Hopefully got some kick to it.
- [Tanika] And a little bit of rice.
- Mm, mm.
- Yeah.
- It just melts away in your mouth.
It's got the right amount of spice and kick.
It is so delicious.
- [Tanika] Mm-hmm.
- You've got the crunch from the crispy shallots.
You've got the fresh green shallots on top,
and a nice kick from chili oil.
- It's really soft and velvety and buttery in my mouth.
- Things don't have to be complicated
to be amazingly delicious,
and everything is just perfectly executed
in its own simplicity.
- [Tanika] It's cool, it's fresh,
it's vibrant, it's salty.
- Tastes super clean as well.
Could easily prepare it at home.
I love my chili, I could go a little bit hotter.
Solid nine, yeah.
- It's just really refreshing.
I'm gonna give it 9 out of 10.
Shit, I'm gonna eat this for lunch.
- So, what I'm really impressed by about this dish
is the homemade chili oil.
It's infused with so much flavor,
and it's absolutely delicious.
- [Tom] You've totally stopped saying "divine".
- Have I?
- [Tom] Yeah.
- Hmm, my subconscious.
Maybe I'll stick a little divine in there for you.
- [Tom] Yeah, for the fans...
The true fans.
- All around, this simple dish was absolutely divine,
and for that reason, I'm going to give it an 8 out of 10.
- So, that might come as a surprise,
but I've actually made New York cheesecake from tofu.
The recipe actually uses two different kinds of tofu,
and it's silken tofu and a tofu-based cream cheese.
So, to start off, we make the crust of the cheesecake.
I've used today a vegan and gluten-free scotch finger,
and then add our melted vegan butter
and a little bit of sugar to it.
Give it a good stir,
and then we press a gently into the cake pan.
So, once we've pressed the crust into our cake mold,
we just bake that for about seven or eight minutes
to just get it slightly crunchy.
To make the cheesecake filling,
we add our coconut cream,
and vegan cream cheese, silken tofu,
into the blender.
Blend it until it's smooth.
We fill our cream cheese mixture into a bowl
and then gently stir in the corn starch,
the icing sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla
until everything is smooth and combined.
Once your filling is ready,
you take your crust out of the oven
and gently pour the filling into the cheesecake pan.
The cheesecake gets baked in a bain-marie,
so you place it in the bain-marie,
and then it gets baked for 1 hour and 40 minutes
at 150 degrees, and it will be slightly steamed.
The next day, your cheesecake
will be ready to get cut and decorated
with fresh fruit, cream,
or however you would like to eat it.
Hope you guys enjoy.
(light upbeat piano music)
- Oh my God, this is beautiful.
This is luxe.
- Yeah, I love all the edible flowers and berries, coulis.
- I have never tried a tofu dessert,
so I'm so excited to tuck in.
(light orchestral music)
- Mm, mm!
- Nice base.
- Oh my goodness.
- That is exquisite.
- Super smooth consistency on the cheesecake.
- It doesn't taste like tofu at all.
It's creamy.
The texture like a really fluffy ricotta.
- I would eat that for my birthday,
for Christmas, for Easter, any day of the week.
- There's a nice bit of color on top, caramelization.
- It would be the perfect vehicle for so many flavors.
You could do a mango and passion fruit cheesecake,
chocolate cheesecake.
The options are endless.
- Sorry, I'm really smashing this cheesecake.
- Mm!
This is tofu, guys.
That's tofu.
- Yeah, this is delicious.
At least nine, yeah, for sure.
- I am going to rate it a 10 out of 10.
- Can I give it a 10?
- [Tom] Mm-hmm.
- Are people being ruthless?
I think I would give this a 10.
- [Tom] So the winner of the best tofu dish today is...
the cheesecake!
- No way, I can't believe this.
Because the competition was so, so strong today.
Woo!
- People just respond to my Instagram stories with divine?
- [Tom] No, who does that?
- I'm not joking.
It's probably happened like 10 times now.
(upbeat outro music)