Buffalo tofu with ranch dipping sauce

A couple of weeks ago, the man and I went back to Gasometer as we heard that the menu had changed again! I was delighted to find buffalo tofu strips back on the menu as I never had the chance to try them previously. We were both smitten with the spicy dense sticks of tofu and their accompanying dipping sauce so I wanted to try and replicate them at home. I had a secret ingredient up my sleeve to make life easier, a buffalo wing spice mix I had purchased from USA Foods ages ago which contained four simple ingredients - chile, red jalapeno, salt and garlic.

The buffalo wing mix came with a recipe for making wings which didn't really suit my purpose although it wasn't entirely useless either. I scaled down the marinade quantities to suit my block of tofu and when I couldn't make up my mind about frying or baking the tofu, I split the batch in half and put both methods to the test. There didn't turn out to be a lot of difference between these methods, I would say the baked tofu was slightly chewier and firmer than the fried version. I sought out a vegan ranch dipping sauce recipe to have with the tofu on VegWeb which was a breeze to mix together and the perfect cooling condiment to tone down the spices a little.

Recently we have made concerted efforts to seek out local farmers markets on weekends when time permits (stay tuned for another post on this soon). Last weekend I was pleased to bring home a bunch of organic baby purple carrots, baby leeks and kale amongst other things. The buffalo tofu was teamed up with some baked potato wedges with smoked paprika and salt, sauteed baby carrots with garlic and parsley and sauteed kale with baby leeks and a dash of lemon. Everyone agreed that the side dishes were just as delicious as the tofu. The buffalo tofu was really tasty and spicy yet not quite on the same level as Gasometer's fantastic version. As there is a large portion of the packet mix remaining this will definitely be on the menu again.


Buffalo Tofu (Adapted from Los Chileros buffalo wing mix)

350g firm tofu
1 tablespoon Los Chileros buffalo wing mix
1 ½ tablespoons vegan worchestershire sauce
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil

Press tofu for 30 minutes. Cut the block of tofu into thirds lengthwise then cut each piece into six equal sized sticks. Whisk together the buffalo tofu mix, worchestershire sauce and olive oil in a bowl. Add the tofu to the bowl and coat thoroughly with the marinade. Allow to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Bake the strips in the oven at 200C for 30 minutes, flipping after 15 minutes. Alternatively, fry in a pan with a little oil over medium heat until browned on both sides. Serve with ranch dressing.


Ranch dipping sauce (Adapted from VegWeb)

½ cup vegan mayonnaise (I used Praise 97% fat free)
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients together in a small bowl and refrigerate until required.