Crispy Tofu Balls with Satay Sauce
2013-12-04
- Yield : 20 small
- Prep Time : 5m
- Cook Time : 15m
- Ready In : 20m
I have wanted to experiment with cooking tofu for Harry for a while now. The texture and simple taste of tofu makes it a wonderful ‘flavour carrier’ and a great way to experiment and create bite sized goodies for toddlers. Harry has tried tofu off my plate before and wasn’t a huge fan, so I enticed him by using flavours I know he loves – like pure peanut butter. The crispy outer and satay flavour inside made these irresistible for Harry. For me, they needed a sauce, so I made a lovely satay to match. Yum.
See our satay recipe here.
Nutrition note: Tofu is a wonderful flavour carrier and is high in protein, calcium and iron.
Ingredients
- ½ brown onion, chopped
- 300g hard tofu
- 1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
- 2 tbsp pure peanut butter
- ½ cup breadcrumbs or quinoa flakes
- ½ tsp oregano ½ tsp parsley
- ½ cup rice flour
- ¼ cup rice bran oil (or other frying oil)
Method
Step 1
Place onion in a food processor and process until finely chopped. -
Step 2
Add tofu, soy sauce, peanut butter, breadcrumbs and herbs to the processor and combine. Place mixture in a bowl. -
Step 3
Roll mixture into teaspoon sized balls. -
Step 4
Place the rice flour in a shallow bowl and roll each ball through to coat. -
Step 5
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium. Fry the balls in batches, turning them often, until golden brown and crispy. Drain on a paper towel. -
Recipe Comments
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posted by Kath on December 5, 2013
Hi – just wondering why you used rice flour. Would regular flour work?
Also do you have a recipe for your satay sauce as well?
Cheers
Kath
posted by Allie on December 5, 2013
Hi Kath, I have wanted to try rice flour for a while as it is meant to give a light but crispy outer – and it did. Regular flour wouldn’t be as crisp but would still seal the balls or you could try rolling them in breadcrumbs. I hope that helps, Ax
posted by Alison on December 8, 2013
Hello. Could you please recommend a substitute ingredient for the peanut butter? While all other nuts are fine, my little girl has a mild peanut allergy.
posted by Allie on December 9, 2013
Hi Alison, while I haven’t tried it myself you could always look at other widely available nut butters (such as almond, cashew, macadamia). Or you could probably omit the peanut butter altogether, the processed tofu gave a very sticky consistency on it’s own. Would love to hear how you go. Ax
posted by Alison on December 13, 2013
Hello. Just successfully tried this recipe with a Brazil, Cashew & Almond spread, and the substitute worked in a lovely satay sauce too. Thank you Allie.
posted by Allie on December 18, 2013
Great, thanks for the feedback 🙂 Ax
posted by Antonia Brydon on January 30, 2014
Hi, just tried to make this after making some very successful sweet potato muffins from your site. Unfortunately they turned out very loose, I added quite a bit of flour to try and thicken it up a bit but ended up with more of a batter than balls so I fried them like fritters. They were a big hit in my family and were very tasty anyway 😉
posted by Allie on February 4, 2014
Hi Antonia, thanks for your comment and feedback on the tofu balls. Sorry to hear they didn’t hold in balls, did you use the hard tofu? You didn’t add the oil thinking it went in the mixture? Sometimes pure peanut butter goes very runny in the pantry, I keep mine in the fridge, that’s my only other thought? I am glad you manage to enjoy the mixture as fritters anyway 🙂 Ax
posted by Claire on January 31, 2014
These are delicious, made them for the kids (had the medium tofu instead of hard and extra quinoa and flour as it was a bit runny) and I keep munching on them. Eaten by 1 and 4 year old, great source of calcium too.
Claire
posted by Allie on February 4, 2014
Thanks for your feedback Claire, much appreciated. Ax
posted by Namita on February 24, 2014
Hi Alison
Just wondering if this would work when cooked in the oven with small amount if spray oil instead of frying? It sounds and looks so delicious but unfortunately due to health issues we can’t have fried food. Thanks
posted by Allie on February 24, 2014
Hi Namita, I don’t see why these wouldn’t work in the oven – I haven’t tried them myself but think it should be fine you might just need to rotate them to cook evenly. Let us know how you go, Ax
posted by Nikki on March 3, 2014
Hi there,
This recipe came up on a search for gluten free. This is clearly not a gluten free recipe and there are a few substitutes which need to be made such as the soy sauce (needs to be GF brand) and breadcrumbs. I think you should highlight this in your recipe if people want to make a GF version, as I know a few kind friends of mine might try to make this for my daughter thinking they are doing the right thing, but inadvertently poison her (she has Coeliac’s Disease).
I will most definitely be trying a gluten free version of these though!
posted by Diana Zerrillo on March 18, 2014
We have made these several times over, they are delicious! The satay sauce is super, I want to put it on everything we eat. Many thanks, Diana
posted by Gemma on April 5, 2014
Hi there
I made these today with the satay sauce – yum! A question on freezing, do you think the balls and sauce will freeze ok (separately of course), and if so any idea on how to freeze the balls without them squishing?
Thanks, Gemma
posted by Jess on June 8, 2014
Just made these and they were super sloppy. Followed all of your instructions 🙁 I managed to dust some blobs and fried them and they tasted great – unfortunately little man didn’t like them. Back to the drawing board – again!
posted by Roni on July 6, 2014
Gemma, freeze them in a shallow plastic container, not packed tightly, then when frozen you can stack them on top of each other (if needed) in one deeper container. Place layers of grease proof paper in between to stop the layers sticking.
posted by Hilary on April 17, 2015
curious about baking tofu balls – or quenelles – rather than frying. any ideas? can also be a grownup food, with olives mixed in, though who says kids don’t like olives? toddler in my family adores them.
posted by Danni on July 22, 2015
Gosh I wish I could say we loved these but for us we really didn’t enjoy them, I couldn’t even eat them
Just didn’t like the flavour and I love tofu… Maybe I did something wrong! Oh well one unsuccessful
One for us out of 100000 great ones we have had!
posted by Allie on October 2, 2015
Thanks for your feedback Danni, sorry these didn’t work out for you. Ax
posted by Sylvia on November 11, 2015
I love Thai themed soup, and am looking for meat free meatballs to add to it.
I wonder if these would freeze okay before cooking, and if they would hold up in a soup.
posted by Allie on December 21, 2015
Let us know how you go!