Recipe for Vegan Tofu with Seaweed by Lisette Kreischer

These little crunchy cubes, wrapped in seaweed and sesame seeds, are perfect to enjoy as an appetiser, served cold for a picnic, or to complement a hot meal. 

They have been created by Lisette Kreisher, co-founder of Dutch Weed Burger, at the forefront of the vegan movement in the Netherlands and author of numerous cookbooks. Thanks to a marinade made from garlic, ginger, cumin, soy sauce, and lime, these crunchy tofu cubes are likely to be popular. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

500 g firm tofu

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 garlic cloves, minced

2.5 cm fresh ginger, finely chopped

1½ teaspoons cumin seeds

Juice of 1 lime

50 g flour

50 g sesame seeds 

2 tablespoons aonori (nori flakes), or crumble or cut one nori sheet into fine flakes

Olive or sunflower oil for panfrying

Method

Drain the tofu and gently pat dry with paper towels. Cut the tofu into 12-cm cubes.

In a bowl, combine the maple syrup and soy sauce with the garlic, ginger, cumin, and lime juice. Mix in the tofu, making sure that all cubes are covered with the mixture. Cover the bowl and set aside in the fridge to marinate for at least two hours (overnight is even better).

The next day, separate the tofu from the excess marinade (you can keep it as a dip). Mix together the flour, sesame seeds, and aonori. Sprinkle the tofu cubes with the flour mixture, giving them a good coating.

 Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a skillet. Panfry the tofu until golden brown on all sides, flipping occasionally. Spoon the cubes onto a plate lined with paper towels and allow to drain.

Ocean Greens (2016), by Lisette Kreisher and Marcel Schuttelaar, is published by The Experiment and is currently only available in English.

In her book Ocean Greens, co-written with Marcel Schuttelaar, nutrition engineer and founder of the North Sea Farm Foundation, the driving force behind seaweed cultivation in the North Sea, Lisette Kreisher shares over 50 seaweed-based recipes. In the first part of the book, she details the different species of seaweed, their health benefits and flavours, and features numerous interviews with various seaweed specialists. 

Ocean Greens is not her first cookbook; she has also written Ecofabulous and Man Eat Plant, among others.