Rectangular, breadcrumbed and crispy – who doesn’t immediately think of yummy fish sticks of his childhood? You can bake healthy and wholesome vegan fish sticks with this recipe without fish but still enjoy the typical fish flavor. And yes: Creamy Swiss chard and boiled potatoes belong to tofu fish sticks – even if the vegetable traditionally has the least priority for kids.
Magic Swiss chard
All, but not only green: his stems go really colorful! They show up in white, yellow to beetroot red. Swiss chard used to be really popular up to about 100 years ago. Then spinach took over (probably with the help of Popeye!), but Swiss chard made his comeback in recent years. And rightly so: Swiss chard is more aromatic and flavorful than spinach. In addition, Swiss chard is sold as a whole and you can use its leaves and stems.
Swiss chard belongs to the beet family and apart from being good looking also gets high five with its many nutrients: with vitamins B and C, folic acid and the minerals calcium, magnesium and – especially for us ladies – with iron. Do you want more magic? For every 100 g, Swiss chard provides only 19 kcal and contains more fiber than most other leafy vegetables.
Plant-based fish sticks – is that even possible?
Yes: Algae provide the fine fish taste. They are the ideal food to get nutrients and the typical fish taste at the same time. You can grind algae into powder or flakes or crush them in a mortar. Nori seaweed sheets, which you can get almost everywhere thanks to their use in sushi, are very convenient to use. Nori seaweed sheets provide a fine fishy taste and are ideal for plant-based fish dishes.
No: The typical fish stick consistency cannot be achieved with this recipe. I have tried different approaches with tofu, but unfortunately did not achieve this goal so far. Maybe you feel like experimenting and find a way to further improve the consistency? Let me know, I’m always up for tips and tricks. Even though tofu doesn’t score high in terms of consistency, it easily compensates with its many plant proteins, nutrients and minerals. Together with the Swiss chard you get a healthy and extremely wholesome dish with a great taste and lots of nutrients.
As a side dish for my vegan tofu fish steaks with creamed Swiss chard, I have chosen the traditional and classic boiled potato to accompany the creamed Swiss Chard with tofu fish sticks. What do you serve this dish with? I look forward to any ideas and suggestions from you!
Main dishes
Btw. have you checked out all the delicious recipes in the category “main dishes” yet? Are you not that into vegan “fish” or haven’t made friends with tofu yet? Why not try out my recipe for vegan Tacos made with Jackfruit, a natural plant based meat substitute.
Creamed Swiss Chard with Tofu Fish Sticks – vegan
Ingredients
For the creamed Swiss chard
- 1 large red onion
- 2 large stalks/leaves of Swiss chard (250 g)
- 1 Tbsp peanut oil
- 150 ml vegetable broth
- 1 Tbsp cashew butter (30 g *homemade)
- 2 pinch nutmeg powder
- 1/2 tsp caraway seed
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- salt and pepper
For the vegan fish sticks
- 3 slices dry whole grain bread (optional dry sourdough bread)
- 1 block of tofu (200 g)
- 3 sheets of nori algae (used for making sushi ) (ground up to flakes, recipe calls for 3 tsp of nori flakes)
- 1/2 tsp tamari
- 2 tsp nutritional yeast
- 1 heaped Tbsp rice flour, whole grain (alternatively spelt flour)
- 3 Tbsp peanut oil
For the boiled potatoes
- 2 large potatoes
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and cut into wedges. Bring to the boil in a pan with water, then reduce the heat and cook for 20-30 minutes until soft.
- Take 2 nori algae sheets and tear into small pieces. Mix them in a high-performance mixer to get algae flakes. Then pour into a screw jar. ** (Alternatively, use a mortar to make flakes.)
- Roughly break the hard pieces of bread and grind them into breadcrumbs in a food processor. Put the breadcrumbs in a deep plate and set aside.
- Squeeze out the tofu block, break into large pieces and mix together with the flour, tamari, yeast flakes and 3 teaspoons of nori seaweed flakes in a kitchen machine / food processor for about 1 minute to form a malleable mass. (Alternatively, mash the tofu with a fork and knead the mixture well.) Season to taste with salt and pepper and, with clean hands, shape the tofu mixture into 6 “fish sticks”.
- Heat a non-stick pan with peanut oil on medium heat. Turn the tofu sticks in the breadcrumbs and then fry them in hot oil on both sides for about 3 minutes until crispy.
- For the creamed Swiss chard, peel and halve the onion and either chop in a food processor or dice finely with a knife.
- Wash the Swiss chard and separate the stems from the leaves. Finely shave the stems with a kitchen utensil or cut into fine rings with a knife.
- Cut the Swiss chard leaves into thin stripes.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and fry the onion and chard stalks in it for 5 minutes.
- Pour the cashew puree with the vegetable stock into a tall container and blend briefly with a hand blender. Add the cashew milk, caraway seeds, nutmeg powder, garlic powder, Swiss chard leaves, salt and pepper to the fried onions and Swiss chard stalks. Simmer for 5 minutes until it has a nice, creamy consistency. Season to taste with yeast flakes, salt and pepper. Serve with the boiled potatoes and the vegan fish sticks.
Notes
Spinach, known as the little brother of the Swiss chard, can be a good substitute. Note that Swiss chard has a slightly stronger taste than spinach. Pak Choi is also very close to Swiss chard in terms of taste. The styles and leaves of beetroot or pumpkin leaves are interesting, as these are otherwise hardly used in recipes. Young pumpkin leaves are more delicate in taste, older ones are stronger. You may have to experiment a little bit.
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