This low FODMAP tofu chick’n Caesar salad is a combination of two of my favourite go to recipes. I have added more of a rich smoky flavour to this tofu chick’n recipe from the aptly named book Low–Fodmap and Vegan: What to Eat When You Can’t Eat Anything by Jo Stepaniak.
The Caesar salad is only lightly adapted from this amazing grilled Caesar recipe by my all time favourite chef, Anna Jones. Anna Jones really represents everything I love in a chef, she makes vegetarian, seasonal dishes with amazing flavour combinations, that are mindful of the environment.
After struggling to find a lot of vegetarian low FODMAP recipes that got me as excited as Anna Jones’ food, I started working on adaptations of some of her classics.
This tofu chick’n is a star in its own right and can make a tasty addition to many meals. I’ve used it in salads, stir fries, and as a protein with mashed potatoes and vegetables. It could be thrown in pasta, on pizza, or even in a curry.
The tofu needs to be pre-pressed, overnight is preferred as the longer it’s pressed the better it can soak in the marinade. A tofu press is an inexpensive one-off purchase that gets a lot of use in my house. But you can press it with a heavy flat weight and a cloth to soak up the liquid.
High FODMAP Substitutions
Why do you need these? For the reintroduction and personalisation phases of the low FODMAP diet. It is important to get as many valuable prebiotic FODMAPs back into your diet to increase gut health and build up long-term tolerance to FODMAPs.
- 1 garlic clove (high in fructans) and regular olive oil instead of garlic oil in the dressing
- A whole 400 g can (2 cups) of chickpeas/garbanzos (~80 g/0.4 cup is medium in FODMAPs for GOS)
Low FODMAP Tofu Chick’n Caesar Salad
Equipment
- Large baking sheet/tray
- Large flat dish
- Food processor
- Grater
Ingredients
Crispy chickpeas
- 160 g (1 cup) canned chickpeas/garbanzo beans (<42 g or ¼ cup pp is low FODMAP in GOS)
- 1 tbsp rapeseed or plain vegetable oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Zest of one unwaxed lemon
Tofu chicken
- ~400 g (1 pack) extra-firm tofu (pre-pressed at least 30 mins, overnight if possible)
- 175 ml (¾ cup) low FODMAP vegetable stock (I use Fody powdered veg stock for convenience)
- 60 ml (¼ cup) tamari/soy sauce (use gluten-free tamari if needed)
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional but worth it)
- 1 tbsp garlic oil
- 1 tbsp onion oil (I use Fody's shallot oil, but another tbsp garlic oil is fine)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp liquid smoke (optional but worth it)
Caesar dressing
- 4 tbsp (~80 g) tahini
- 2 tbsp coconut yoghurt/lactose free yoghurt (look for good quality, minimal ingredient non-sweetened yoghurt)
- 1 tbsp garlic oil
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- Dash of tamari/soy sauce (use gluten-free tamari if needed)
- Salt & pepper to taste
Salad
- 3 heads of romaine/4 gem lettuces
- 4 tbsp pine nuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 240°C/465°F.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas (I like to store any spare in a jar in their liquid). Dry thoroughly and add to a baking sheet/tray. Toss with the rapeseed oil, salt and pepper to taste.
- When the oven is hot, cook the chickpeas for 25 minutes. Shake the tray occasionally until they are crispy and you start to hear them pop. I usually partially cover the tray with foil (letting air in) for when they pop.
- Add all of the tofu marinade ingredients to a large shallow dish and mix together.
- Slice the tofu thinly into ~15x ¼ inch/~½ cm thin slices and lay all of them flat in the marinade dish. Leave the tofu to marinade for 30 minutes and flip halfway through if they are not completely submerged.
- Zest the lemon and set zest aside.
- When the chickpeas are done, take them out of the oven and lower the temperature of the oven to 205°C/400°F. Put them onto some kitchen paper and toss them with the lemon zest and leave to dry out and crisp.
- Place the tofu on a large baking sheet lined with baking paper, ensuring space between each slice. Bake tofu for 25 minutes, flipping over half way, until they are golden brown.
- While the tofu is cooking, prepare the dressing. Add all the dressing ingredients to a food processor with ~3 tbsp of water (more if preferred), and blitz until smooth. The dressing will firm up in the fridge so you can always add more water later to get a creamy consistency.
- Wash, dry and roughly chop the salad leaves.
- Compile the salad and split ingredients between four plates. Start with the leaves, top with crispy lemon chickpeas and pine nuts. When the tofu chicken is done, rough chop ~4 slices and scatter over the top of each plate. Drizzle the dressing over the top and enjoy!
