Vegan Dinners
Tofu Turkey Cut-Outs
for Thanksgiving

If you are entertaining vegan friends for the holidays this year, then this will be an easy and whimsical treat for those special guests. A sweet couple we met in Honolulu invited us to their large family Thanksgiving at a beach house. They teased us endlessly about being vegan, but wanted to make our meal as festive as the "turkey-eaters". In the middle of the night, he woke up asking his wife, "Do we have a turkey cookie cutter? I've got to have one for the dinner party! The Morgans need to have turkey just like the rest of us!"

When we arrived on Thanksgiving Day, he immediately led us into the kitchen where he had cut out an entire platter of large tamari-fried tofu turkey cut-outs! On the side, he had a bowl full of the leftover tofu scraps and referred to them as the "giblets." We were in stitches and he was so very pleased with himself. "I wanted to make sure you had turkey just like the rest of us!"



Video: Tofu Turkey Cut-Outs for Holiday Entertaining


Ingredients
2 large boxes of fresh extra firm organic tofu
tamari
non-stick oil spray


Tools
turkey cookie cutter
kitchen towel
cutting board
bowl
large heavy bottomed skillet


Preparation
The Tofu
Open the package of firm tofu and drain.

Rinse the block or blocks of tofu under water and place on a clean terry kitchen towel or paper towels.

You can leave the wrapped tofu out on your kitchen counter or in the refrigerator.

Check the toweling and if it's full of water, turn it over to saturate the other side of the toweling.

The main concern in doing this step is to remove as much liquid out of the tofu as possible before using the turkey cutter.

HINT: It's best to do this step the night before so that all the excess liquid will drain into the toweling overnight... put it in the refrigerator if you do this step the night before.  A TofuXpress works well for large tofu blocks.

      
Copper Turkey Cookie Cutter

Copper Turkey Cookie Cutter
Hand-crafted copper cookie cutters provide the best investment and durability over the years.

BUY the Large Hand-Crafted Copper Turkey Cookie Cutter

BUY the MINI Hand-Crafted Turkey Cookie Cutter


The Turkey Cut-Outs
Cut the tofu into 1/2 inches slices using a wide knife.

Cut the slices evenly and on the widest angle to allow plenty of room for the cutter.

These small turkeys were cut from tofu purchased at Costco and the blocks measured 3 inches by 3 inches by 1 inches.

I saved the cut-out silhouettes and used them too.

Fry the Tofu Turkey Cut-Outs
I dipped each cut-out tofu turkey in tamari to give that a brown color and then sprayed them with a non-stick oil spray and fried them over in a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat.

Don't be in a hurry to flip them over... wait till the tamari starts to caramelize and then gently flip them over with a spatula.

      


Tofu Pressed in TofuXpress and Cut with Copper Cookie Cutter

For a large turkey cookie cutter, the tofu slice needs to be larger. So I pulled out my TofuXpress and mashed two of the tofu squares into the bottom and attached the press. The end result was a slab large enough to use the larger turkey cookie cutter for an adult portion of tofu.