Fried Tofu Chick'n

Yesterday, Claudia of cook eat FRET fame had to make a trip to Whole Foods, so I met her there for lunch. It was a dark and stormy day, so I opted to hit the hot bar instead of the cold bar. Okay, it really didn't have anything to do with the weather; it had everything to do with seeing these nuggets of "fried tofu chick'n"--small blocks of tofu breaded in nutritional yeast and spices and fried like chicken.

I'd had some oven-fried tofu battered with nutritional yeast at a vegetarian potluck, so I was eager to taste the Whole Foods version. And I was not disappointed. They seasoned the batter perfectly. These nuggets are so very delicious. The Colonel has nothing on Whole Foods' fried chick'n.

But I still haven't gotten brave enough to try working with nutritional yeast on my own. I suppose I could try to get a little creative and/or do some research. But in the meantime, I decided to get about a pound of these little guys for dinner. I figured the SO would really enjoy these. And I was right. We even competed to eat the leftover "crispies" on the plate. That's how good these nuggets are.

Since I still have a lot of potatoes leftover from St. Patrick's Day, I made some mashed potatoes (peels left on to get all the nutrients) and also used up the remaining broccolini I had in the fridge. So I got to clean out the fridge and the pantry a bit and we had a great meal.

And as long as Whole Foods has these nuggets around, I don't see myself figuring out how to make them on my own. Though I'm happy to have found a small container to get me started. Note that the Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula nutritional yeast is fortified with vitamin B12--that's good news for vegans and/or vegetarians who aren't getting B12 from dairy products.