[lauren] what do you want?!
[lauren] he's fluffy.
[lauren] hey everyone! it's lauren toyota from hot for food, of course.
[lauren] and guess what we're doing today!
[lauren] another RECIPE?!
[lauren] so this is of course where i start with nothing.
[lauren] i don't have an idea, i don't really know what's in my fridge and my pantry.
[lauren] and we are going to rummage around, come up with an inspiration and try to make a recipe
[lauren] from scratch. this is how you develop recipes as a food blogger or a food-tuber.
[lauren] so you're seeing the process from start to finish and lately we've been on a real roll.
[lauren] we did a coffee cake last time,
[lauren] which is tasty. what else did we do?
[lauren] ooh, chicken caesar wraps, those were good.
[lauren] so let's make something awesome today.
[lauren] right away, my eyes were drawn to this. i have a little bit of chips left in this bag.
[lauren] barbeque chips, um.. and i was like
[lauren] we should use these for something, like a batter
[lauren] and this is like the perfect inspiration, it's like
[lauren] well, and you can just eat these but it's like what do you do with all these bags of chips lying around?
[lauren] with like little crumbs in them
[lauren] no waste.
[lauren] see this is like everyone's cupboards, it's like "oh look at these chips and these pretzels and all this stuff"
[lauren] it's like you can just use them for something.
[lauren] uhh, i don't have much in here.
[lauren] well. yes i do. everyone thinks our fridge is always full of stuff.
[lauren] we got some wine,
[lauren] we got some leftover veggie dip. if you watch our snapchat, i made these on snapchat a while back.
[lauren] you know, i got a resource of vegetables here, we're fine. i got some limes, kale, the usual.
[lauren] so if we need to do anything with vegetables, we're good.
[lauren] aha!
[lauren] i have some extra firm tofu.
[lauren] chip-crusted tofu! like a battered type of crispy tofu.
[lauren] i mean we've made breadcrumb crusted crispy coconut tofu tacos, you've seen those.
[lauren] so this could be a variation for that, but maybe there's something more gourmet we could pull out.
[lauren] okay i just thought of something.
[lauren] if i- luckily these pieces of tofu were kind of interesting sized.
[lauren] they're rectangle. so if we cut these like thin little steaks,
[lauren] crust them with the barbeque chips,
[lauren]and then imagine those on the outside like a double down so it's like
[lauren] double down is like crispy, KFC chicken.
[lauren] on the outside.
[lauren] with like bacon and cheese in the middle but we could make like,
[lauren] a "healthy" double down so i think it would look cool because these are orange, so it'll look like
[lauren] chicken, like crusted chicken.
[lauren] and then on the inside, we could do like a white bean mash,
[lauren] and like use some of this ranch dip stuff.
[lauren] and i have kale, we can put kale.
[lauren] it's like a weird hippie double down.
[lauren] okay, so i don't have any like almond milk, or soy milk in the fridge
[lauren] so i have a can of coconut milk, we'll have to use that kind of as our wet dredge.
[lauren] so as you can see, this tofu is very
[lauren] porous and soft even though it's called extra firm.
[lauren] so it just depends what kind of tofu you get
[lauren] we bought ones that are more firm.
[lauren] and less sponge like so we're just gonna be very careful with this.
[lauren] i've tried to squeeze as much water as i can out with a paper towel.
[lauren] if you have a tofu press, go ahead and do that but i don't.
[lauren] so we're just gonna be very careful, we're gonna slice this thinly.
[lauren] so we're gonna get the tofu marinating and i thinned out some coconut milk.
[lauren] i'm gonna add apple cider vinegar,
[lauren] and i'm gonna add hot sauce,
[lauren] and i'm gonna add sea salt and onion powder.
[lauren] now we'll just whisk it together.
[lauren] while we prepare the other batter, i'm gonna let this tofu sit in here.
[lauren] so just try to get them coated.
[lauren] alright, so we've got our chips. we've got you know, like a quarter of a bag full.
[lauren] they're whole.
[lauren] they're barbecue.
[lauren] now i would run them through the food processor because i have one
[lauren] but i know not everybody out there does so i think what we can do
[lauren] is just rage out a little on the chips.
[lauren] or you know, take a utencil.
[lauren] just give them a good smash there.
[lauren] you can probably even use your hands.
[lauren] just, if you're vegan, make sure you're checking the ingredients.
[lauren] not all barbecue chips are vegan but these ones are.
[lauren] i wish we had all chips but i don't think that's enough.
[lauren] so i will supplement this with the multigrain breadcrumbs that i have here.
[lauren] and we'll add more seasonings to make sure it's real tasty.
[lauren] i think you need about a good two to three cups total of everything to coat these six tofu steaks.
[lauren] we're just gonna add more salt.
[lauren] we're gonna add more onion powder,
[lauren] i'm gonna add a little bit more of a smoky flavour with smoked paprika.
[lauren] gonna add chili powder,
[lauren] and just a little bit of old bay, our favourite seasoning.
[lauren] if you can't find it, just leave it out.
[lauren] just mix that up.
[lauren] i think it's going to be pretty tasty!
[lauren] alright, we're gonna do a shallow fry for these so you want a heavy bottomed pan like a cast iron.
[lauren] you're gonna put about an inch of oil on the bottom.
[lauren] and we're gonna heat this up to about 375F
[lauren] and then we're just gonna make a flour dredge for the tofu as well.
[lauren] i'm just gonna add a little bit of cornstarch to this flour
[lauren] i don't really know why, i just felt like i needed it.
[lauren] so we're going from the marinated tofu, you want all the liquid on it. you wanna go into the flour,
[lauren] then coat that.
[lauren] then you wanna go back to the liquid, except i'm working with very little room here.
[lauren] then you want to go to the breadcrumbs.
[lauren] you wanna delicately coat it very well.
[lauren] oh yeaaaa
[lauren] alright, these little tofu double down things turned out awesome!
[lauren] i can't taste them because we have exactly three sandwiches to make here.
[lauren] i know they're gonna taste good though.
[lauren] so we're at our crossroads. we're, you know,
[lauren] i was hemming and hawing about what goes in the middle.
[lauren] i'm lauren toyota. and i kinda go that extra mile and i wanna make it fancy as f*ck.
[lauren] so using our leftovers, i told you i have this leftover vegetable dip.
[lauren] now what's in this dressing that i made recently is
[lauren] cilantro, basil, vegan cream cheese, vegan mayonnaise, a bit of cashews, water, vinegar.
[lauren] i'm pretty confident that i can transform this into what looks like our cheese sauce.
[lauren] so i have some leftover baby carrots that are pretty much about to die in front of me.
[lauren] i'm gonna boil them, gonna blend it with this.
[lauren] we're gonna add some jalapeños to make it spicy.
[lauren] then i had these navy beans and i thought we could make like a white bean mash.
[lauren] now i know that's kind of weird, but we don't have any like
[lauren] bacon to go in here and i kind of want to make this like an elevated version of a double down.
[lauren] sort of a healthy-ish-err version.
[lauren] so we're gonna do garlic white bean mash,
[lauren] nacho cheese sauce, a little bit of sautéed kale.
[lauren] and there we go!
[lauren] putting our white beans in a pan, make sure there's a bit of oil in ther.e
[lauren] you're gonna add salt and pepper,
[lauren] now we're gonna add some savoury spices like nutmeg and sage,
[lauren] kay we're gonna add crushed garlic.
[lauren] a lot of it , like three cloves.
[lauren] alright, we're gonna put the beans into a food processor,
[lauren] and keep your pan hot to quickly sauté some kale.
[lauren] so i'm gonna tear the kale into the pan. there's a lot of seasonings still left in the pan, which is good.
[lauren] and we're just gonna add a little bit of salt,
[lauren] just a little bit of oil
[lauren] and just a little bit of white wine vinegar.
[lauren] okay kale doesn't take very long so to get it off the heat just put it on a plate
[lauren] it might still start cooking. hopefully it doesn't go too brown on us.
[lauren] and we're just gonna process the beans until they're a mash.
[lauren] because we're making this now, a bit of a luscious, southern dish, we're gonna add some vegan butter.
[lauren] just to smooth it out.
[lauren] you of course could just do this by hand just like a mash potato too.
[lauren] so for this makeshift cheese sauce, we're gonna use just a few of these carrots, you don't need a lot.
[lauren] that gives us some colour, thickness and starchiness.
[lauren] i'm gonna use half of what i have left of this dressing here.
[lauren] you don't need a lot, plus i wanna reserve some in case this doesn't work.
[lauren] now these greens, i'm not sure what colour we're gonna get here.
[lauren] we like adding pickled jalapeños to our nacho cheese because it adds some spice and some kick.
[lauren] so we're gonna add that.
[lauren] plus the brine.
[lauren] as liquid.
[lauren] let's blend it and see what we get. we might need to add some things.
[lauren] alright, that's what we got.
[lauren] it's pretty- nacho cheese colour
[lauren] it's obviously not- cheese.
[lauren] but it's pretty close to our nacho cheese and of course, i'm just using what i have
[lauren] so i'm just gonna add a few more carrots.
[lauren] gonna add a little bit of this leftover pizza sauce.
[lauren] for colour and taste.
[lauren] you know, sweeten this, whatever,
[lauren] just a little bit,
[lauren] and let's blend it again!
[lauren] so i think we're good. we're just gonna heat this up over the stove.
[lauren] you just wanna get it warm so it's warm on the double down.
[lauren] alright, let's assemble!
[lauren] okay, everyone. look at these.
[lauren] our fancy as f*ck vegan double down.
[lauren] what the?!
[lauren] i can't believe we made this today!
[lauren] i haven't tasted it, i mean i tasted the beans, i tasted the cheese,
[lauren] but how does it all really come together? that's the question.
[lauren] so vegan double down, here we go. double down, bottoms up!
[lauren] holy crap. whoaa man!
[lauren] now the show's really over.
[lauren] there's nothing left to do.
[lauren] mmmmm!
[lauren] everything is perfect!
[lauren] i can't stop.
[lauren] it's far less greasy than a real double down,
[lauren] we used tofu, instead of processed vegan chicken.
[lauren] we made that cheese sauce from like,
[lauren] i don't even know what the heck's in it
[lauren] the kale's amazing, it adds like a fancy element to it.
[lauren] the beans. it looks like meat, which is kind of weird.
[lauren] the taste is so good on it.
[lauren] it does add a nice meatiness to everything.
[lauren] oh yea, and i forgot. we breaded the tofu in barbecue chips!
[lauren] what?!
[lauren] come at me, bro.
[lauren] this is so good i have to go now.
[lauren] i gotta do my spiel though.
[lauren] alright, so all you hot for foodies out there have already started making the connections.
[lauren] first of all, you probably just wanna make our regular nacho cheese.
[lauren] the breading, use chips or not, you could also do our crispy coconut tofu as a steak like this.
[lauren] um, there's many ways to do this.
[lauren] you could even do the cauliflower breading, panko, whatever.
[lauren] you know how to bread stuff by now.
so there's many ways to improvise this and try it yourself.
[lauren] you could make different variations with different you know,
[lauren] stuffings in between the double down but this is a totally legit vegan double down
[lauren] that's like elevated, and you know more unique.
[lauren] than just the usual fast food replica.
[lauren] so i'm pretty proud of ourselves here.
[lauren] i hope you guys try this out and make it, i wanna see pictures. you need to tell me what you think.
[lauren] make it, review it, leave your comments below.
[lauren] and uh always tag us on social media with your stuff @hotforfood #hotforfood or #hotforfoodies.
[lauren] cos that's what you are! you are supporting us, you are making this happen, this is so much fun.
[lauren] i really like doing RECIPE?! i feel like, i don't know.
[lauren] that's just where the inspiration starts like, really bubbling and i really have a lot of fun doing this.
[lauren] so keep watching. we're here every wednesday with brand new videos on hot for food.
[lauren] subscribe! share! thumbs up!
[lauren] whatevs. you know what to do. i'll see you guys later. byeee!!!