This recipe for Chinese fritters is a variation on a street food popular in Beijing, Hong Kong and other parts of China. Chinese fritters can be found in sweet and savory forms, made with ground pork, fish, prawns and bananas. This version uses smoked tofu and sweet corn for a tasty, crunchy snack that is perfect for vegetarians.
Tip: The tofu needs to be thoroughly drained otherwise the Chinese fritters will not hold their shape, so allow plenty of preparation time. The cooking time itself is very short.
Vegetarian Chinese Fritters Recipe
Preparation time: 1 day/night draining time + 30 minutes.
Cooking time: 3-4 minutes.
Makes 15-20 fritters.
Vegetarian Chinese Fritters Ingredients:
- 12 oz / 350 g silken tofu
- 6 oz / 175 g firm (preferably smoked) tofu
- 5 tablespoons breadcrumbs
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 small tin sweet corn, drained
- 1 large egg
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Vegetarian Chinese Fritters Preparation:
- Cover a large plate with a clean tea towel, place both kinds of tofu on top of it and cover with another tea towel and a second plate. Place a heavy object, such as a frying pan, on top of the second plate to press it down. Put the tofu in the fridge and let it drain overnight (or start the recipe early in the morning and allow the tofu to stand for a day). If the tea towels become saturated with liquid during this time, replace them with dry ones and return the tofu to the fridge as described above.
- Put the tofu in a large bowl and mash roughly with a potato masher. Stir in the breadcrumbs, flour, sesame oil, sweet corn and egg. Season well with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.
- Fill a heavy-bottomed saucepan with about 1.5 inches / 4 centimeters of sunflower oil and heat over a low flame. The oil is hot enough when a small amount of the fritter mixture dropped into it creates bubbles.
- Form a heaped tablespoon of the fritter mixture into the shape of a rugby ball (this is easiest with your hands - wash if they start getting sticky). Lower the fritter carefully into the oil and repeat with the rest of the mixture. It may be necessary to do several batches, depending on the size of the saucepan.
- Fry until crisp and golden, about three or four minutes. Turn over with heatproof tongs during cooking if necessary to ensure an even color all the way round. Transfer the fritters to paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
Enjoy these vegetarian Chinese fritters warm with sweet chili dipping sauce.
Cecily Layzell - Cecily Layzell is a food and travel writer and founder of restaurant review site www.eat-amsterdam.com.
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