This Vegan Lemon "Chicken" is the perfect plant based alternative to this Chinese take away classic. Get the recipe below.
Mock meat
Having eaten meat for most of my life when I became vegetarian and subsequently vegan I still missed the flavours and textures of meat. With that in mind I've been trying to create recipes with mock meat substitutes ever since. This vegan lemon "chicken" recipe is no different.
Mimicking meat is actually something that goes back hundreds of years in Chinese food history. They were actually the pioneers of wheat gluten being used as a replacement for meat. I use tofu for the flesh and bean curd sheets for the crispy outside.
Although this recipe requires a specialist ingredient (bean curd sheets) it's well worth it!
Where can I buy bean curd sheets?
You will find bean curd sheets in any good Asian store. They will either be dried (in which case they will need re-hydrating in warm water) or frozen (in which case they will need to be defrosted).
They have a wide range of uses but here we use them to get a crispy outside to the "chicken".
How to make vegan lemon chicken with crispy bean curd sheets
The "chicken"
I considered using seitan (made from vital wheat gluten) for this recipe as I've made many mock meat recipes using it in the past. For example:
But, given we're going to use bean curd sheets for the crispy outer layer I didn't want to over complicate things. Instead, we're using tofu.
For this recipe it's important to use extra firm tofu which has been pressed to release as much moisture as possible. This will make for a meatier texture.
Once the tofu has been pressed it should be cut horizontally length-ways so that you have two large flat rectangles. They should be roughly the thickness of a chicken breast.
To get the crispy outside of the chicken, take your either re-hydrated or defrosted bean curd sheets and place two on the surface in front of you. Lay the first piece of tofu in the middle and then carefully wrap it in the bean curd sheets. Place a third bean curd sheet on to the surface in front of you, turn the tofu parcel over (so the join is facing down) and wrap again.
Repeat this with the second piece of tofu.
The "chicken" is then fried until crispy.
We place the "chicken" to one side to make the sauce before adding it back in.
The sauce
Making the sticky lemon sauce is simple.
The ingredients you will need are:
- garlic
- ginger
- lemon zest and juice (I like to reserve a couple of fresh lemon slices to garnish the dish)
- sugar
- soy sauce
- a sauce thickener such as cornflour or potato starch
The garlic and ginger are fried before the lemon zest, juice, sugar and soy sauce are added to the pan with some water.
A slurry is then made with the cornflour or potato starch which is then added into the sauce. Simmering this mixture creates a sweet and sour, sticky sauce.
Slice the "chicken" then add back into the pan and coat with the sauce. It's now ready to serve!
The recipe
Vegan Lemon "Chicken"
Ingredients
For the "chicken"
- 400 g tofu extra firm
- 6 bean curd sheets
- 4 tablespoon vegetable oil
For the lemon sauce
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 50 ml water
- 2 teaspoon cornflour or potato starch
- 75 ml lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 50 g sugar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 slices lemon
Instructions
- (If dried) re-hydrate the bean curd sheets by soaking them in warm water for 5 minutes.
- Cut the tofu block in half lengthways.
- Lay out 2 of the bean curd sheets on to your work surface and place one of the slices of tofu in the middle.
- Wrap the tofu in the bean curd sheets.
- Lay the third bean curd sheet out on to your work surface and place the wrapped tofu seam side down in the centre of the bean curd sheet.
- Wrap the tofu.
- Repeat with the second slice of tofu and the remaining bean curd sheets.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan.
- Place the wrapped slices of tofu into the pan and fry on each side for 10 minutes.
- Once crispy all over remove from the pan, pat dry with kitchen roll to remove any excess oil and place to one side.
- Add the garlic and ginger to the pan and cook for 2 minutes.
- Make a slurry with the water and cornflour then mix with the remaining ingredients.
- Add the sauce to the pan along with the garlic and ginger and cook for 8 minutes or until the sauce has begun to thicken.
- Slice the tofu into strips then add back into the pan.
- Cook for 5 minutes until the tofu is hot through and coated in the sauce.
- Serve with the remaining slices of lemon to garnish.
Nutrition
More take-away inspired recipes
The Chinese recipe collection
For more Chinese inspired recipes check out my Chinese recipe collection.
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