“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.”
~ Samuel Johnson
To me there is no city in the world that can compare to London. I feel like it is the city of my soul, it is home in a way that no other place has ever been. (Except here in Aramco of course, but this isn’t exactly the ‘real world’.)
Growing up, my family and I spent a few weeks every summer in London or elsewhere in the UK and I always felt ‘right’ when I was there. I fit in like I did no place else and to this day London is my favorite place in the world. I even spent my first year of University there. (Here’s another post I did about my love for the UK.)
London really has everything you could ever want (except sunshine), from a fast paced city feel to the tradition and quirky elegance I always associate with England. The architecture, the history, the endlessly charming people, the brilliant shopping, the diverse and eclectic culture, the beautiful parks and markets, are all stamped on my heart forever. I just can’t get enough of that place, which is why I’ve been thinking about spending a week there this summer for my birthday.
Ever since that idea popped into my head I’ve been in constant daydreaming mode, remembering all of my favorite places in London and making mental checklists of things I’ve got to do and people I have to see. But, as you would imagine from a food blogger, I’ve been mainly dreaming about the amazing food. And what is more quintessentially London than a big pile of greasy fish and chips?
My nostalgia must have inspired my culinary creativity because this recipe is truly out of this world authentic. The trick to making the tofu taste really fishy is the addition of 2 sheets of finely ground up nori rolls in the wet batter. It gave the tofu the perfect amount of ocean fresh taste that I had been missing. The right texture of the wet batter is essential to making this recipe really genuine. You have to make sure to get the oil super hot before adding the battered tofu so the batter will seal up instantly and be light and crisp. YUM!
Vegan Fish
1 lb extra firm tofu, frozen, thawed, pressed gently to remove excess water, then sliced into 4 pieces. You don’t want them too small!
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup dark beer + 2 Tbsp (we used non-alcoholic because here in Saudi Arabia alcohol is illegal)
2 inches deep of very hot vegetable oil in a large pot
2 nori seaweed rolls
1/3 cup all purpose flour for dredging
1 tsp paprika
salt and pepper
- Place the pieces of tofu in a large dish and splash them with malt vinegar and let them marinate for 3 hours. They don’t need to soak in the vinegar, just give them a good splashing and turn them once.
- Grind up the nori rolls in a food processor till they are a powder
- Combine the 1 cup flour with the beer, paprika, salt, pepper, and nori powder
- Get the oil really, really, really hot.
- Remove the tofu from the marinade, dredge each piece in the 1/3 cup flour, then dip them in the wet batter and quickly place in the very, very, very hot oil
- Watch them closely, the oil is super hot so the batter will brown quickly. Remove when golden. Serve with a side of tartar sauce (vegan mayo and chopped pickles) and covered with lots of sea salt and malt vinegar.
The chips couldn’t be easier. Chop 2 potatoes into fry sized pieces, not too small, you want hefty fries! Toss them with a generous amount of olive oil, lots of salt, and then put them in a 400F oven. Don’t even think about touching them for 30 minutes. If you try to stir them before then they will break apart. Leave them alone for at least 30 minutes and only try to stir them and turn them over if you can do it without them breaking. In total they should bake for about 45 minutes or till they reach the crispiness you like. Serve them with lots of salt and malt vinegar!
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THIS WAS AWESOME! The batter turned out so good!
P.S. What well groomed thumbnails your hand model has!
Thanks for the recipe! Gonna try this one for sure!
Ohhhh, those look delish. I cannot wait to try them.
f you go to London, be sure to go to this place. I LOVED it! http://www.safrestaurant.co.uk
This looks awesome.
Probably won’t be trying it soon, as I still eat fish — and am also trying to lose weight so probably won’t be frying up tofu anytime soon.
But still, just looking at those photos had my mouth watering.
Come to London! Bristol’s only a short train ride away so if you wanted to meet I could easily visit. Plus, there are loads of great vegan restaurants in London and there’s a raw food restaurant that looks good.
Anyway, back to the food. This looks delicious! I can never have “chip shop chips” because I always get glutened and the same for the fish, apart from my veganism that is… Another one to bookmark methinks
Saf’s the restaurant I was thinking of! It does look great.
Oh wow! I never liked real fish, but I love tofu fish … though I’ve only ever had it baked. Fried would be so much better (really everything is best eaten fried). I can’t believe alcohol is illegal there!!! I’m not sure what I would do without my weekend beer and wine.
I wish tofu didn’t bug my stomach!!
I usually try to eat it in small does. But this looks amazing!! I love the idea of putting the nori in there…
YUM!
I love this idea, so fun! Tofu doesn’t work well for me, but I need to try a raw version!
Ooh, yummy! I’ve never purchased beer in my life, but I might have to for this. I’ll probably get the non-alcoholic kind. I seriously can’t wait to try this.
I’ve only been to London once for 4 all too short days last year and I know what you mean! It felt so right to be there. I can’t wait to get back; it’s been on my mind quite a bit lately, and now I read this to top it all off. Sigh…
Wow, does that EVER look authentic! Believe it or not, I never actually tried “real” fish and chips, so I wouldn’t know if the nori made it taste the same or not–but I think I must give it a try (on a day when everything else is low-cal!)
HELL YEAH! I am so excited about this. I know you wouldn’t settle for less than authentic tofu fish and chips. I’m going out to buy some vinegar- so I can make this tonight! And yeah, that is one neatly groomed thumbnail!
Dannnng! That looks crazy good.
Also, I made the sundae cake you posted about and topped it with coconut milk mint chocolate chip ice cream….
I think I died and went to heaven with every bite.
I’ve never had real fish n chips, but this looks like so much fun! I def felt left out in Scotland when my whole study abroad group got fish n chips in a small fishing town (supposedly the best in the world?)
what an awesome idea! i would have never thought to add ground nori to the batter to get a “fishy” taste. brilliant
i thought this was an april fool joke! nice work!
That looks AMAZING, and I was always pretty ambivalent about fish & chips! I do agree with your London love, though… I visited once (gosh, it was nearly 6 years ago!) and fell in love with the city.
Wow Tasha, you continue to amaze and surprise me with your terrific and inventive VEGAN dishes. Hey I am putting one of my flight attendant twitterers onto your blog RIGHT NOW! His mum and dad want to go VEGAN for 3 months. I think your blog is the perfect resource!! xx
Thank you, Robyn!
Woman after my own heart! I LOVE London. I know I love travel in general, and I’d give any place a chance and live somewhere else for the experience of it, but I also love my home. But London…London is the one place I’d turn my life around for tomorrow if given the chance to move there. Despite my serious intolerance to cold, and all it’s raininess, I love the city and I love the people and just feel so happy when I’m there!
However, as close to the real thing as this dish looks, even in my meat eating days,I was never a fish eater, and especially not a fried foods eater, but I’ll take some scones and tea!
Wow, I can almost taste this already. Looks and sounds so delicious – I can’t wait to try it out!
I love all your international recipes, and this one looks fantastic as usual. I’ve never spend much time in London, but from what I’ve seen of it “quirky charm” seems about right.
your tofu fish ‘n chips looks most fantastical, Tasha! what a great coating on that ‘fu. mmmmmmmmm! i’ve never been to London, but some day i’d love to go, and your description makes me want to even more. i’m all about some quirky elegance. w00t! totally gonna have to make your vegan fish ‘n chips – i haven’t had anything like it since my omni days and it was soooo long ago when i did – it was actually a trip to australia in 1997 that was the last fish ‘n chips eating. can’t wait to make yours super soon! thanks again for sharing another super stellar recipe with us!
These look soooo bad, but since they are on your blog I know they’ll be sooo good! Thanks for sharing this, I do miss a good fish and chips!
I miss seafood. This sounds so easy. I am going to try it next time I hit the Japanese store for nori sheets.
Definitely! The nori rolls were the key ingredient!
I can’t believe how fishy these LOOK! I’d love to taste them
Well you can! Get into that kitchen and whip up a batch, you will love it!
I love London, too, especially the fab flea markets. I haven’t been there in a REALLY long time but would love to go back. Your “fish” and chips look very authentic except you forgot to wrap them up in newspaper! I need to get over my “fear of frying” so I can try this.
Fear of frying!?!?!? That sounds awful! I hope you do get over it, frying is my favorite thing ever.
Oh I saw this post come up in my reader last night and I have been too busy going on blogger meetups and pumping iron LOL to write a proper comment..til now
Ok so this looks SO AUTHENTIC, Tasha! Wow, I am amazed! Not that you of all people created it, b/c of course, you’re brilliant! but just the aunthenticity! I bet my hubs would LOVE this. I actually don’t really like fried food. It gives me a tummy ache, and used to eat it anyway, but now, if I am going to indulge, its def sweet not savory/greasy. But i remember the comment you left me that you couldn’t pick between them, they are both your faves
Parents who tell their kid, oh you wont like this, and then dont give it..yeah. Sure. I just fed skylar raw kale with a little salad dressing, carrots, tomatoes, snow pea pods, cucumbers. All raw. and all without dressing except the kale. She’s 3 and they WILL eat it, if you serve it. And dont clutter their mind and tell them they wont like it. I HATE it when i see mothers do that! argh!
xxoxo
I just came across your amazing site and I love, love, love it! Your vegan recipes look stunning and I can’t wait to try some of them soon. Also, a big YAY! for globe-trotting, feminism, being crazily in love with one’s partner, loving horses and reading and writing books! It’s so funny – I am also currently writing a book, and it was really nice to read about how you structure your day and fit in time for research and writing in between all the other things your are doing. I have to say, I admire your discipline – I don’t think I could ever do all the things you do (especially all the exercising, and I could NEVER get myself out of bed at 6am), but I do find it very inspiring to see your schedule that seems to be filled with lots of wonderful activities (and loads of delicious food, of course). But what made me really feel compelled to comment is this entry on London and vegan fish’n'chips (which I must try sometime). The funny thing about it is that I just got offered (and accepted) a dream-job in London and honestly don’t know whether to be thrilled about it or not, because I just moved to Berlin a year ago (from the US), and am totally in love with Berlin and don’t want to leave. London never really appealed to me, but then again I really don’t know it at all. Anyway, reading about how much you love and feel at home in London made me feel much better, for if a fellow vegan feminist globetrotter and horse-lover likes London, it can’t be so bad, after all!
Thank you for your amazing and inspiring site – I will make sure to check in regularly from now on!
[...] best darned chips and unfish [...]
Thanks for the recipe. My daughter has developed a fish allergy and misses fish stick with a passion. Thanks again!!