Spicy Garlic-Lime Tofu « lisasthoughts.com

Posted on: October 1, 2009 at 12:01 AM

Filed under: Food, Photography, Recipes, Vegan, VeganMoFo 2009

With: 9 comments

Once upon a time I used to eat out at quite a few chain restaurants. You can sometimes still spot me in a few of them every now and then, though I rarely eat anything. I mostly go for the drinks these days. One of our favorites is Chili’s. Bil usually orders the Spicy Garlic Lime Shrimp and brags about it constantly. Days later he’s still going on about how amazing it was. I was determined to veganize it to show him that he can still get all the flavor without the use of shrimp. So I did a little searching and found this recipe. I made a few changes and ended up with the most amazing Spicy Garlic-Lime Tofu. I swear to you it tastes exactly like the stuff from Chili’s only better. MUCH better. Even Bil (a huge shrimp lover… gag) says he’d pick the tofu version over the shrimp version any day.

Ingredients

1 lb extra firm tofu, pressed, sliced
3 tbsp vegetable broth (or 2 tbsp butter)
5 cloves garlic, pressed
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp parsley flakes

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine the ingredients from the salt to the parsley flakes into a small cup. Mix together and set aside.
In a small saucepan heat up the vegetable broth (or butter if using) and garlic on low heat until the garlic becomes fragrant. Remove from heat and add the lime juice. Mix together.
Layer the tofu slices in a deep dish and pour the garlic-lime mixture over the tofu. Let marinate for 15 minutes.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Carefully line the sheet with the tofu slices. Sprinkle tofu with half of the seasoning mixture. Bake for 15 minutes then remove from oven. Flip the tofu slices over and sprinkle with the remaining seasoning mixture. Bake for another 15 minutes.

I used more garlic because I love the stuff. I used vegetable broth instead of butter because it’s healthier. I also used an extra large lime. The marinade was perfect and it was just enough to cover the tofu. The tofu soaked up most of it and I didn’t have to waste very much which is always a plus. I served this on toasted whole wheat buns with green leaf lettuce, tomato and avocado slices. It was amazing! Fairly healthy too. The total cost to make was about $10 and it served 4.