Who misses the quintessentially British seaside fish and chips since becoming vegetarian/vegan? Or, are you unable find a chip shop that does gluten free batter if you do eat fish? Are you currently living that low fodmap life and mushy peas would make you feel poorly? Whether you’re one or more of the above, fear no more. You can just make your own, hennnny! (I will maybe, just maybe, one day stop quoting and paraphrasing Jonathan Van Ness, that day is not today. CAN YOU BELIEVE?) . This is obviously a plant based recipe, but if you eat fish you can follow the process replacing the tofu and nori with a sustainable white fish of your choice. 

 

TOFUSH AND CHIPS (serves 2)

Tofush ingredients 

1 280g block of Extra firm Tofu. I use naked tofoo (the best tofu brand in the U.K. I’ve tried so far)

1/2 a large Nori sheet

Juice of 1/2 a lemon 

Batter ingredients

1/2 cup (approx 115g) gluten free self-raising flour 

2/3 cup (approx 150ml) fizzy water or gluten free beer 

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 litre of vegetable oil for frying

Chips ingredients 

4 large Maris piper potatoes 

 

Mushy ‘peas’ ingredients 

A big handful of fresh or frozen green beans (12 green beans per person is the low fodmap serving size)

1 tsp fodyfoods vegetable stock

1 tsp of butter/dairy free butter

1 tsp malt vinegar

Salt and pepper

optional: finely chopped fresh mint.  

 

Method

Add the oil to a large heavy bottom pan ensuring you don’t fill it over half way. Place on the hob over a medium heat. It should take about 10 minutes until it’s ready to go. If you have a digital thermometer you want the oil to reach about 180-200°C, don’t worry if not (I didn’t use one this time), just follow the instructions below.

Slice the tofu into four even blocks that are about 1 1/2 - 2cm thick. Lay the pieces of tofu on top of some kitchen roll, then top with some more kitchen roll and something relatively heavy like a heavy pan or chopping block. This will help to remove any excess water out of the tofu. Leave for 5-10 minutes.  

Meanwhile, peel and cut the potatoes into even sized chips and par boil for about 8-10 minutes then drain thoroughly.  

Remove the kitchen roll from the tofu then tear the nori sheet so that it covers one side of each slice of tofu (so it looks a little like fish skin), leaving a slight border around the edge. Squeeze over the lemon juice and place the nori rough side down, and pat it down as best as you can to help it stick.  

To make the chips, you can either follow my oil free chips recipe, or, for proper chips shop style chips follow the method below.

If you don’t have a thermometer, add one parboiled chip to the preheated oil. If it browns very quickly drop the heat down a touch. Add all the chips and fry until they are golden brown and crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside, it should take about 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oil using a slotted spoon/spatula and transfer the chips on to kitchen roll to remove any excess oil. Be careful, the oil will be very hot.

You can pop them in the oven to keep warm while you make the rest of the meal if you like.  

To make the tofush, whisk all the batter ingredients together until beautifully smooth. Dust the nori covered tofu with a little flour then dip into the batter. Add this immediately to the oil, gently placing it into the oil away from you.  The tofu doesn’t take long to cook so let it bubble away for 5 minutes or until you reach a beautiful golden brown, crispy batter. Again, remove with a slotted spoon and place on some kitchen roll, blotting away any excess oil. 

Note: you can reuse the oil. Let it cool completely and run it through a very fine sieve to remove any bits of batter then pour it back into the original bottle, or an airtight glass bottle.

To make the mushy ‘peas’, add the green beans to a pan over a medium heat with the veg stock and about 1 cup of boiling water for a couple of minutes until they are cooked through. Add the cooked beans, butter, vinegar and about 1/4 cup of the water to a blender/food processor and blitz until smooth. Add more water if necessary to reach your desired consistency. Pour the puréed beans back into the pan, taste and season. 

Plate everything up and serve with a wedge of lemon, salt, malt vinegar and your favourite condiments.