Whether you want something that will
really impress and stand out for your family dinner and festive
occasions or need help getting your kids excited about being a veggie
eater, this Hedgehog-shaped Tofurky will delight anyone of any age,
and is just as delicious and healthy as it is cute (eat Sonic the
hedgehog right in your own home!). You can call this a Porcupine or
Hedgehog tofurky, whatever strikes your fancy, I just go back and
forth between the two, though Hedgehogs are cuter.
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| Hedgehog Tofurky |
Ingredients:
-One Tofurky Italian Sausage
-About 1/3 cup of Tofurky Ground Beef
Style
-Raw Blanched Almond Slivers (I got
mine from Trader Joes)
-One package Extra Firm Tofu
-Two heads of Broccoli (washed,
drained)
-Six long carrots (baby carrots can be
substituted, though regular is preferred), skinned, ends chopped off
-Teriaki sauce (for me, only Yoshida's
Teriaki sauce will give the perfect flavor, any other soy sauce can
be used but there will be a big difference in taste)
-7 Baby Portabella Mushrooms (any kind
of mushroom will do as long as the portion stays the same), washed,
bottom of stems chopped
-Rosemary
-A tsp of Crushed Ginger (can be
substituted with a tsp ginger powder)
-A few dashes of Trader Joes 21
seasoning salute (recommended, but not needed)
-Garlic powder
-Onion powder
-About ½ Tbsp of minced garlic (I get
mine pre-minced in a jar-it just saves time)
-4 stalks of green onions, sliced thin.
-Walnut pieces
-Small pinch of red pepper flakes
-Dark brown sugar (can be substituted
with Truvia baking blend, but flavor will differ)
-Two eggwhites (can be substituted with
bread crumbs)
-Olive oil (Spray-on)
Cooks in about 20-25 min on 375 degrees
covered, then 2-5 minutes uncovered after knife testing.
How to:
First:
It's important to get the moisture out of the tofu or else your
tofurky will fall flat when it bakes and won't hold up, so the night
before you make it cut the tofu package open and drain it thoroughly,
pressing on the tofu to get the excess moisture that's sponged into
it out, then get a colander (put a large plate under it so that it
doesn't leak out) and put the tofu into a bowl, mash it up, then
transfer the mashed bits to the colander pressing them into the
bottom and sides to drain. Leave the whole thing with tofu still
pressed to it in the fridge overnight.
For the filling:
The Chopping: You can either do
this fresh and get it done along with draining the tofu and have it
ready for the morning (though in the morning you'll likely have some
extra fluid that you will have to drain out a bit). I usually do it
fresh in the morning after the tofu's been drying overnight. You will
either need a cleaver or a food processor (I use a cleaver). Get one
head of broccoli and trim off the large bottom, leaving only the
florets and a length the stems attached to them (see below pic to be
sure), then roughly chop them with the cleaver, leaving them on your
cutting board for more chopping later. Get 4 of the mushrooms, slice
normally and then chop roughly (keeps them from sticking to the
cleaver as much), combine with roughly chopped broccoli. Get your
four stalks of green onions and slice them thin, toss in with the
roughly chopped mixture. Only take 3 of the long carrot sticks (make
sure the ends are cut off and they are skinned), and chop them into
small rounds-*save two of these rounds for the eyes and set aside*,
toss in mixture. Then get out one Tofurky Italian sausage and cut in
half, then quarter the halves lengthwise with a regular knife (easier
with regular), then put the quartered pieces back together and slice
those as you normally would slice a sausage into rounds, leaving you
with little triangular pieces which will fit in with the filling
fine. Put this into the filling mixture-mix it all up, and then get
your cleaver and chop it all into fine bits and pieces. (Around now
is the time to be pre-setting your oven to 375 degrees).
The sugar and spices blend is a
blend I recommend, but remember it's up to you if you want to add
some other spices that you like or if you want to change the portion
of them or not even add the pepper flakes, everyone has their own
taster's preference, however it is NOT recommended that you add any
extra salt as the Teriaki/soy sauce will definitely make up for it.
The Mixing:
When it is fine enough, spread a light layer of brown
sugar onto the mixture and work it in with your hands, then put it
all into a mixing bowl.
Time to get out the Tofurky Ground beef
style, and measure out about a third of a cup of that and mix it into
the filling. Then add about ½ Tbsp of minced garlic, 2-3 Tbsp
Yoshida's Teriaki sauce lightly poured over the mix evenly, a dash or
two of red pepper flakes, crush about 3 pinches of rosemary and
sprinkle them in, a few dashes of Trader Joes 21 Seasoning salute,
and a tsp of crushed ginger. Mash everything together I do it with my
hands, but it's fine to mix thoroughly with a spoon. Then crack 2
eggs and drain only the whites of them into the mix, and re-mix.
Putting it all
together:
The
chopping and mixing takes time, but this is probably the most
important step to getting it shaped out and filled. First off, you
have to find the right bowl in your kitchen that's deep enough and
round enough-and you don't want it to be too big (the amount of
filling may seem larger than the bowl itself but because we will be
pressing it into the tofu it just works out). Keep in mind the
forming of it will be mostly done in the baking pan. Find a
medium-large sized mixing bowl that is deep enough for the filling,
and generously spray on the olive oil (Crisco Cooking spray: Extra
virgin olive oil works the best) to the inside of the bowl. Take out
the Tofu from the colander and bit by bit, press to the bottom of the
bowl, mushing it together as you work your way up to the sides as far
as it will go, leave a small handful of tofu left for the top when
finished stuffing. Once it has been mushed up as far as it will go,
then you start pressing in the filling, filling it up and pressing it
into the sides (the idea is to get the layer of tofu the thinnest
possible). When it is filled (may have leftover stuffing), then use
the tofu around the edges to fold them in a bit, rounding the edge
out, and add the handful of tofu to the top, sealing the filling
inside. Now, spray a baking pan with olive oil and, stabilizing it,
quickly flip it upside down onto the pan. It should come off cleanly,
but should there be any pieces that are stuck to the bowl, just grab
them off and piece them back on.
The
Decoration: Shape it
into a rounded out almond shape with a fat middle, best resembling
the picture below. Then get the Walnuts and lightly press them into
the smaller end (which will be the head/snout), end it about a third
of the way on the tofurky and then get out the two carrot rounds that
were saved for later and place them on for the eyes. Cut open the
almond slivers and start poking them with the sharp ends upwards like
a porcupine's frills all along the 'back' of the Hedgehog Tofurky.
Find a rounded out sliver and use this as the nose. Then crush some
more rosemary and sprinkle it along it's back for a finishing touch.
Extra Veggies:
For the extra veggies around the Hedgehog Tofurky, all you have to do
it use the remaining 3 sticks of carrots, 3 mushrooms, and the head
of broccoli. Cut the broccoli into florets with stems like you did
before and slice the mushrooms, but this time for the carrots, cut
them into thirds and the chop the thirds lengthwise to get long
slices. Lay out these veggies on a plate and sprinkle a light layer
of brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, and drizzle on some
Yoshida's Teriaki sauce/soy sauce. Hand mix it all together until
evenly coated and spread in the baking pan around the Hedgehog
Tofurky to absorb the juices. If there is any leftover almond slivers
or walnuts pieces, sprinkle them lightly over the veggies.
Now
just cover with tinfoil, taking care not to let it touch the almond
slivers and mess up the decoration, and set it in the oven at 375
degrees for 20-25 minutes (oven times varies with different ovens),
but the point being that when you check it, by using a butter knife
and sticking it in the thickest part (let it stay there a few seconds
so you can really tell), that it comes out hot. Then uncover it,
stick it back in, and let it brown the tops of the almond slivers.
This will take about 3-5 minutes. And then, wa-la! You are done!
Enjoy your one-of-a-kind Hedgehog Tofurky.
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| Hedgehog Tofurky with it's head cut off to show the filling. |
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