Air Fried Vegan “Fish” Sticks

If I’m being perfectly honest, I’ve never liked fish. I gave up fish after seeing The Little Mermaid in 1st grade, and it was never quite my thing. I do, however, love malt vinegar and putting it all over all of the fries! I recently had an awesome “fish” and chips in Tijuana and decided to try and recreate it in my air fryer. I will warn that malt vinegar is not gluten free. I have read that the process of turning the malt to vinegar can make it digestible for those with gluten intolerance, but I would recommend sticking with apple cider vinegar if you have a severe sensitivity. This is how we made it:

Ingredients:

1 cup gluten free bread crumbs

1 package extra firm tofu

½ cup almond milk

½ lemon, juiced

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ tsp dill

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp sea salt

Few grinds of pepper

2 sheets of nori

Beer Batter

1 bottle gluten free beer

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 cup gluten free flour

1 tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp dill

½ tsp paprika

Few grinds of pepper

Tartar Sauce

1 package silken tofu

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp mustard

½ lemon

1 tsp salt

½ tsp dill

Pepper to taste

1 tbsp relish

Directions:

Slice your tofu lengthwise into 8 long rectangles.

Mix together the almond milk, lemon, vinegar, garlic, dill, paprika, salt, and pepper into a large bowl. Add your sliced tofu and set aside to marinate.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, dill, paprika, and pepper. Then add the beer and vinegar. Give it a good mix.

Cut your sheets of nori into 4 squares each so you now have 8 squares. Wrap a square of nori around your tofu stick and press so it sticks. The moisture from the almond milk mixture should help.

Dip the nori wrapped tofu into the beer batter, and then dip it into the bread crumbs. Place each tofu stick into your greased air fryer basket.

Cook your tofu for 10 minutes at 400 degrees and flipping the sticks over halfway through.

Meanwhile, let’s make that tartar sauce.

In a high powered blender, place the silken tofu, ACV, vinegar, mustard, lemon, salt, dill, and pepper and blend until smooth. Mix in your relish.

Serve these babies up with some air fried french fries and coat it all in some apple cider vinegar of malt vinegar if you can tolerate it.