Monday 1 September 2008

Sunday roast... veg style

I've been playing a bit with tofu. Tofu, I have decided, really is an acquired taste, and now that I've acquired a taste for it, I want to test exactly what I can do with it. It's quite versatile, mouldable, absorbs all flavours, comes in a all sorts of textures. I've tried it in stir fries, in miso soup, in curries,
recently in veggie patties and for dinner last night I decided to try a tofu roast. You can buy Sanitarium vegie roasts but they are rather expensive ($7 each), so I figured there must be people out there in the world who make vegie or tofu roasts and I went hunting. The total cost of my loaf was $5 ($4 for the block of tofu, and about $1 for everything else, since I had dried the herbs from my garden)

I was prepared for failure: I was expecting it to be bland and unexiting, but I was pleasantly surprised. The taste reminded me of stuffing but with a more kick and with a meatloafy texture. I'd love to play with different recieps, but I was extremely happy with this recipe, from The Common Ground, which I borrowed heavily from as the basis for my creation.

Beth's surprisingly tasty tofu roast
  • 1 slice sprouted wheat bread, processed to bread crumbs
  • 1/3 cup Massel vegetarian stock
  • 1 large onions, minced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 500 g firm tofu
  • 45 ml soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup tomato paste
  • 1/2 tsp each dried basil, sage, oregano and rosemary
  • 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
  • fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 egg
Combine bread and stock. Fry up garlic and onions in olive oil until soft. Put bread mixture, onions, garlic and all remaining ingredients in a food processor. Process for about a minute until all ingredients are combined, but still kind of chunky. Place into a greased loaf tin and bake for 30 mins. Set aside for 15 mins to cool. Slice into 8-10 slices.


  • The pumpkin, beets came from the farmer's market.
  • The roasted cauliflower was inspired by Maggie Beer's roasted cauliflower salad (we just used the first three ingredients)
  • The green/purple leafy side is actually beetroot leaves. I have never cooked with these before, but I followed Maggie Beer's instructions to cook them like silverbeet in a bit of butter in a pan until wilted. The leaves were exceptionally fresh and they tasted delicious. Slightly bitter, reminded me of English spinach.
  • Served with gravy, of course.

4 comments:

Jenaveve said...

Very daring... great work! It does look rather delish. I have to ask because I've heard of this a lot lately - where on earth do you buy the sprouted wheat bread?

Beth said...

I can buy it at my local Coles and Safeway. Usually it's tucked away on the top shelf in the regular bread aisle but it gets snapped up fast. The brand we get (I can't remember the name) comes in a green packet with a black label. I have been using it in everything recently because it's the only loaf we've had around.

Kate Moore said...

That looks pretty damn good. Would sour dough bread crumbs work, do you think?

Beth said...

I reckon they would and I think it would taste great!