Prepping Ingredients
This dish came together slowly over time with many edits along the way. I discovered many different herbs I wanted to incorporate and being new to Australia, I didn’t exactly know how they would pair. See my journey from the VERY beginning to invent this dish on my Australian Vegan Fine Dining blog post!
Final Dishes
This recipe creates twelve quinoa stuffed tofu pieces for plating a service of four. But it will make plenty of leftover quinoa stuffing, purees and gravy so you can be more generous with your portions or save them for future recipes! Or simply double the smoked tofu and create additional plates.
Bush Tucker Quinoa Stuffing in Smoked Tofu
Native Australian herbs and spices go into this comforting vegan dish with pumpkin puree and Vegemite gravy.
Equipment
- 1 Chef's Knife
- 1 Cutting Board
- 12 Mini Muffin Moulds
- 2 Bowls For tofu marinade and fritter batter
- 1 Small Saucepan
- 1 Medium Size Saucepan
- 1 Food Processor or Hand Blender
- 1 Sieve
- 1 Frypan
- 3-4 Small prep bowls, as needed For purees, dukkah or veg
- 2 Piping bags optional
Ingredients
Smoked Tofu
- 1 block Medium or Firm Tofu, cubed *See Notes for homemade tofu option
- 1 tsp Liquid Smoke
- 1 tbsp Tamari (GF Soy Sauce)
Bush Tucker Quinoa Stuffing
- 1/2 cup Quinoa, cooked
- 2 tbsp Garlic-infused Olive Oil
- 1 Shallot, minced
- 1 tsp Lemon Myrtle
- 1 tsp Kunzea
- 1 tbsp Old Man Saltbush
- 1 tsp Mountain Pepperleaf
- 10 Sandlewood Nuts, chopped fine
- 100 g Breadcrumbs
- 1 Flax Egg
Swede Mash
- 1 Swede, peeled & cubed
- 3 tbsp Vegan Butter
- 1-4 tbsp Almond Milk
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
Pea Puree
- 100g Peas, Cooked reserve a handful of whole peas for plating, optional
- 100 ml Vegetable Stock
- 2 tbsp Vegan Butter
- 1/2 clove Garlic
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
Pumpkin Puree
- 400 g Pumpkin, cubed
- 150 g Water
- 1/2 tsp Salt
Vegemite Gravy
- 2 tbsp Vegan Butter
- 2 tbsp GF All Purpose Flour
- 550 ml Vegetable Stock
- 1 tsp GF Vegemite
- 1/2 tbsp Tamari
- 1 tsp Kunzea
- 1 tsp Thyme
Carrot Fritters
- 40 g Gram Flour
- 2 tbsp GF All Purpose Flour
- 5 tbsp Water
- 1 tsp Coriander
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 200 ml Sunflower Oil for frying
- 2 Grated Carrots
Sandalwood Dukkah
- 10 Sandalwood Nuts
- 10 Macadamia Nuts
- 1/4 tsp Lemon Myrtle
- 1/2 tsp Mountain Pepper
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Ground Coriander
- 2 tbsp Sesame Seeds
Instructions
Smoked Tofu
- Preheat oven to 350F/160C fan. Lightly oil a tin of 12 mini muffin moulds.
- Coat cubed tofu in liquid smoke and tamari marinade. Allow to rest in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
- Add contents to a food processor and blitz tofu until a fine puree forms.
- Place a tbsp of tofu puree into each muffin tin, shaping the tofu around and up the sides creating a small impression in the center.
- Bake tofu for 8 minutes. Let cool while you prepare the quinoa stuffing.
Bush Tucker Quinoa Stuffing
- In a small saucepan, fry shallot for a couple minutes. Add 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup of water. Add the kunzea, lemon myrtle, old man saltbush and mountain pepperleaf. Allow herbs and spices to cook with quinoa to infuse.
- Once quinoa is cooked, add olive oil, flax egg and breadcrumbs to form a loose stuffing.
- Once combined, place tablespoonfuls of stuffing into the tofu shells. Drizzle with olive oil. Allow to bake for another 5-10 minutes.
Swede Mash
- Bring a medium pot of water to boil. Cook swede cubes for 20-30 minutes, until soft.
- Drain water and allow swede to air dry for 5-10 minutes
- Add swede, butter and salt/pepper to food processor. Blitz until a fine mash forms, adding 1-4 tbsp almond milk along the way.
Pea Puree
- Add cooked peas with remainder of ingredients to food processor. Blitz until combined. For a finer puree, run the pea mixture through a sieve.
Pumpkin Puree
- Add pumpkin to frypan on medium heat, covered
- Add water bit by bit, just to prevent the pumpkin from sticking to pan and to allow it to steam in the frypan.
- Cook for 5-10 minutes until pumpkin begins to break down and a fine mash forms.
- Add salt and pass mash through a sieve for a finer puree.
Vegemite Gravy
- In a small saucepan over low heat, combine butter and flour. Using a wooden spoon to mix 1 minute
- Add stock, Vegemite, tamari and spices, whisking frequently to help combine and thicken.
- Allow to cook on low for 1-2 minutes, keep heated until ready to use.
Carrot Fritters
- Add flours, spices and water to bowl until mixture is about the texture of heavy cream. Rest for 30 minutes.
- Heat sunflower oil in large frypan.
- Add spoonfuls of grated carrots to batter and place into hot oil. Allow to fry for 2-3 minutes per side. Remove and allow to rest on towel to soak up excess oil. Salt fritters while still hot.
Sandalwood Dukkah
- Combine all ingredients in food processor and blitz until fine. Alternatively you can also leave quite large pieces to suite your preference.
Notes
*If you would like to make your own tofu for this recipe start with soaking 2 cups of soy beans in water overnight. Drain and blitz beans with 8 cups of water (in batches, if necessary). Pour into a bowl lined with a muslin cloth and squeeze milk out of the bag. Add the soy milk to a saucepan, simmer and add 1 teaspoon nigiri (tofu coagulant) (dissolved in a couple tablespoons water) to warmed milk. Stir a couple times and cook for 5-10 minutes until water around coagulated tofu is clear. Pour into a tofu press and rest for 20 minutes, place in fridge to create even more firm tofu.
See more about my entire vegan, gluten free Australian fine dining menu here!