While we aren’t on the path of veganism we definitely are not opposed to getting down with some grilled vegetables. The book VBQ-The Ultimate Vegan Barbecue Cookbook was released in May of 2018 and contains some excellent recipes. We know this because we cooked a couple to share with you. We highly suggest you pick up this book if you want some solid suggestions for grilling your veggies!
Intro to Recipe
We selected two recipes from the book and adapted them based on what we had available. The main dish was Peppered Tofu Steaks which we paired with Grilled Bok Choy. For exact recipes please check out their book it is rad!
For the Tofu:
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoon Bragg Liquid Aminos
2 tablespoons Worcestershire (NOTE: Worcestershire often contains Anchovies so buy Vegan if you need to!)
2 tablespoon balsamic
1 tablespoon agave
3 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon rosemary
14 ounces firm tofu (frozen and thawed preferably)
For the Bok Choy:
1 large head bok choy sliced in half lengthwise
2 1/2 tablespoons Bragg Liquid Aminos
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon grated ginger
3/4 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped peanuts
This is a straightforward marinade and grill preparation that is super easy to put together. Your are basically making two marinades, applying them, grilling the final products, and serving with accoutrements of your choice. Cakewalk.
The only thing you really need to consider beforehand is your tofu sourcing and preparation. Ideally pick a locally grown and quality product. We have great options in Montana! When grilling tofu you want to remove some additional moisture so that it can take on a nice sear. There are two methods that can accomplish this. If you have the time you can freeze your block of tofu and later allow it to defrost on a paper towel covered plate. This process will extract additional moisture from the product. Do not be alarmed if your tofu turns a mild yellow color when frozen – this is expected.
If you are under a time crunch a quicker option is to place the block of tofu between two plates covered by paper towels and place a weighted object on top to gently squeeze out the excess moisture. Either method will work acceptably depending on how much time you have!
From here this just becomes a tale of two marinades and some grill preparation. For the tofu you will mix all of the ingredients together to create your marinade and allow your tofu take in all of this flavor in the fridge for at least four hours. You can use a bowl, dish, Ziploc bag, whatever works for you. Flip, rotate, or move things around occasionally to make sure that you are covering everything!
Same drill on the bok choy except you are going to reserve the peanuts to use as a garnish and some extra flavor. This only needs to marinate for about 30 minutes so we waited until we lit the grill and threw this together. Love a good sheet pan for stuff like this. A walk in the park.
We grilled this one on a Weber Kettle. We used stainless steel charcoal baskets to set up a nice hot sear zone while leaving the adjacent portion of the grill indirect. This two zone setup allows us to sear and then allow things to finish cooking under reduced heat. This also gives us a little room to work if things get chaotic and we need to quickly get an item off of direct heat. We threw a couple of lighter cubes in, lit things up, and went inside to get some rice cooking and marinate the bok choy! If you use a chimney or Looftlighter that is fine too!
You want to sear the tofu for 3 minutes on each side over direct heat. Keep an eye on it and feel free to pull it sooner if it is taking on too much color. Once seared it can go on the indirect side of the grill for an additional 3 minutes or so per side. Use the remaining marinade to baste the tofu occasionally during the cooking process.
The bok choy is going to take a similar amount of time over direct heat until it has a light char. Then another 8 minutes or so on the indirect side. You can do this all at once if you are a gunslinger on the grill or you can do each item separately and remove them from the heat. Finish the bok choy by sprinkling on the peanuts!
We plated this over some rice out of our rice cooker which happens to be a favorite small appliance. Some toasted sesame seeds made a nice final addition. Although vegetarian dishes are not typically our jam we thoroughly enjoyed this.
Looking for more great ideas or some last minute gifts and stocking stuffers? Check out the articles in our State of the Great series!
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