I’m not sure what drew me to Epicurious’ Country Captain recipe, but something about tomatoes and cauliflower sounded really good to me.  So I swung by my local market for some tofu and cauliflower and headed home to try my hand at a vegan version of the dish.  (This dish traditionally will have chicken, butter, and bacon in it…so I knew mine was going to have a completely different flavor, but I still wanted to give it a go.)

The finished dish was surprisingly tasty (no matter how ugly it looked). I always hate spending so much time on a dish that doesn’t look lovely, but while this may appear to be plain ole’ tomato sauce and veggies, I assure you, its not. There are a lot of flavors going on here that meld wonderfully. Mine also looks a lot different from epicurious’ because I chose not to add extra fluid as the cooking process went on as they suggested. I knew I wanted a thicker sauce to serve over grains.




And now, a little history on Country Captain from whatscookingamerica.net:

• Country Captain Chicken – A curried chicken dish. The chicken is browned and then stewed in a sauce of tomatoes, onion, garlic, and curry powder. At the end, golden raisins are added. The dish is served over rice sprinkled with toasted almonds. As with all chicken recipes in the South, Country Captain Chicken varies with the cook. Some recipes call for a long cooking time and other use quick-cooking chicken breasts. One thing is always certain about this dish; it is perfumed and slightly spiced with curry.

• This delicious dish, known throughout Georgia, dates to the early 1800s. It is thought that this dish was brought to Georgia by a British sea captain who had been stationed in Bengali, India and shared the recipe with some friends in the port city of Savannah, Georgia. Savannah was then a major shipping port for the spice trade. The dish was named for the officers in India called “Country Captains.”

(I forgot to garnish with almond and coconut before taking my picture.  Luckily, I remembered before eating it…they add a nice touch to the finished dish.)

Tofu Country Captain

Adapted from Epicurious.com

Ingredients –

Spice mixture:

• 1/2 teaspoons coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1.2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Chicken:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small head of cauliflower, trimmed, cut into 1-inch florets ~ about 4 cups
• 1 cup carrot strips
• Sea Salt
• 14 oz package of extra firm tofu
• 1 bunch green onions, dark green and white parts chopped separately
• 3/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic (I added more to taste later….adjust all the spice amounts to your own personal taste.)
• 1 1/2 cups (or more) veggie broth (I made my from Better Than Bouillon)
• 2 cups crushed tomatoes
• 1/3 cup dried cherries, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoon peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups frozen petite peas (9 to 10 ounces; do not thaw)
• shredded coconut and almond slices, both lightly toasted for garnish

Directions –

For spice mixture:

1. Simply mix all the spice together well in a small bowl and set aside.

For chicken:

1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat.  Drain and wrap tofu with paper towels.  Press down to squeeze out the excess moisture.  Repeat this step a few times until the tofu no longer feels wet to the touch.

2. Cut tofu into 1/2 inch slices.  You can then cut these slices into the size tofu you would like.  (You can see in my picture that I cut each slice into 4 triangles.) Place tofu slices into dry skillet over medium heat, making sure not to crowd the pan.  (I had to do my tofu in 2 batches.) Let tofu cook undisturbed until it begins to brown (take a peek after a few minutes).    Flip and brown other side.  Set cooked tofu aside.

3. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in heavy large deep pot over medium-high heat. Add cauliflower florets and carrots strips; sprinkle with salt and sauté until beginning to soften and brown in spots, 6 to 7 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl.

4. Add white parts of green onions, ginger, and garlic to same pot; reduce heat to medium and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground spice mixture; stir 15 seconds. Stir in 1 1/2 cups veggie broth and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits. Add crushed tomatoes; reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes.

5. Stir in dried cherries and peanut butter.  Return tofu and the cauliflower/onion/carrot mixture to the pan. Cover and simmer 10 minutes, adding more liquid as needed to get desired consistency.

6. Serve over rice or other favorite grain and garnish with toasted almonds and coconut. You can also garnish with cut green portion of green onions.

The tofu in my fridge was just crying out to be eaten.  So ate it, I did.  Well, first I needed to find a way to cook it.  I decided to try frying it in a dry, non-stick pan….a method akin to what Melissa Ray Davis suggests here.

1. I started with some organic firm (non-silken) tofu.

2. Partially open the tofu and drain it over the sink.  (It comes packed in water.)  After that cut up the tofu into squares/triangles/strips/whatever you like.  (I think next time I’ll cut mine into smaller pieces.  I like them a bit more bit-sized.)

3. Pressed down on the tops of the tofu with a soft cloth to remove moisture.  Flip over to press cloth and soak up excessive water on the other side as well.  (You need to find a balance here: press hard enough to soak up something but not so hard that you squish your pieces.)

4. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and place tofu in it.  You want to cook your tofu slowly so that the water in it will have more time to evaporate before the outside gets browned.  (I hate watery tofu.) You can also gently press down on the tofu pieces as you cook them to squeeze out a bit more water.  Flip over to brown both sides.

5. After flipping my tofu I then added some peanut satay sauce.  Play around with various sauces and marinades….tofu goes with just about anything!

My finished tofu pieces…

I ate my tofu stacked on top of some freshly made black beans (I always start with dried beans) and sweet potato american-style fries.  Not a lot of color going on in this meal, but the flavor was great!

I’ve also read about freezing your tofu before cooking it to get a more dense, chewy texture…which I like.  I’ll let you know when I try that method!