Mock Crab Cakes
7 slices whole wheat bread, broken into large pieces
olive oil, as needed
3/4 cup celery, minced
3/4 cup white onion, chopped
1/2 cup carrot, minced
1 small green pepper, minced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
16 ounces firm, regular tofu, pressed (I like vacuum sealed White Wave)
2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet. In a food processor or blender, whirl vegan bread pieces into fine crumbs. Place on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until dired and toasty. Remove from oven and set aside.
2. Brush a skillet with oil and cook celery, onion, carrot, pepper and parsley until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Pulse tofu in food processor to a cottage cheese consistency, being careful not to puree it. In a large bowl, combine the tofu, sauteed vegetable mixture, 1/2 cup of the breadcrumbs, mayonnaise and seasoning. Mix well.
4. Using about 1/3 cup for each cake, form mixture into 10 patties about 3" across and 1/2" thick. Coat each patty with remaining bread crumbs to cover.
5. Place patties on prepared sheet, and spray tops lightly with cooking spray. Bake 15 minutes. Carefully turn cakes over and return to the oven to bake until second side is toasty and browned, about 10 minutes.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I actually wasn't that impressed with these 'crab cakes.' I followed recipe, except used some wheat germ mixed with breadcrumbs to coat, baked at 400 instead of 350, and added some nori seaweed. They were very soft and fell apart. I did eat leftovers the next day, but probably won't make again. Maybe freezing and thawing tofu would give a better texture, I just used extra firm.
These didn't taste like crab (which is a plus) and they were delicious, even better the next day. I ate them with sriracha and ketchup, which I highly recommend. I will be making these again for sure!
these were tasty! we added nori flakes to give it a "seafoodier" flavor. they had a nice light flavor and texture! definitely a keeper! thanks for sharing!
I had half the mixture left over so I added more breadcrumbs and some flour. I formed them into balls and baked them @ 350 for about 20-30 min. They turned out perfect, crispy on the outside and just right on the inside and didn't fall apart. I will make these again. Thanks.
Tasted great but fell apart. Was practically mush when i took it out of the oven. Maybe too much mayo, maybe I will add flour or more bread crumbs or an egg replacer to bind it together better. I ended up just slapping the stuff on bread and eating it like "mock crab cake salad" or something. Not bad just needs some tweaking. Thanks.
The pics look like there is a lot of breading. Does anyone not use all the breading and still find them pretty good? I LOVE crab cakes, so this would be a fantastic alternative for me now.
I have never breaded these, I cannot have wheat, but I can have oats, so I use oat flour in them instead of the bread crumbs and make the crab cakes and then bake them. I also cut back on the veganaise because they were always too greasy for us with making tarter sauce to serve them with so, I cut it down to 1/4 of a cup in them and oil the baking sheet so they don't stick. They are always great.
The pics look like there is a lot of breading. Does anyone not use all the breading and still find them pretty good? I LOVE crab cakes, so this would be a fantastic alternative for me now.
Wouldn't it be better to fry them?
Okay, there was a lot of responses to the recipe and I figured it would be worth a try. It was very very delicious. I did have some of the problems that were mentioned before. I had leftover tofu, about a half 16 oz. block, so since I had a half pound I just halved everything. They were somewhat crumbly and the recipe did call for a bit too much old bay. Not a ton less, but less would be better.
One thing that turned out great though was the tofu. I had pressed it out really well and was probably a little ocd about it, but once I had it decently pressed out, I wanted it to be a bit more dry. I cut my half block into four cuts and wrapped each in a paper towel and baked in the oven at 350 for about 2 minutes on each side, then I would take it out and press, then change the paper towel, press dry again in my hands, then replace the paper towel once more and baked again in the same fashion. when I took them out and pressed them again they were good and warm, but not yet cooked, and it developed an odd lifelike toughness on the outside of the cuts, much like crab, so it ended up great!
next time, I'll use a llittle less old bay, and work on binding it all, but other than that this was an amazing recipe!
two thumbs up!
These cakes were so good, they were a big hit in my house!! I didn't have spray oil so I light oiled my cookie sheet with veg oil, and that seemed to work well. The only problem I had was they were very fragiile, kept falling apart. Definitely a keeper!!
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