One day a week, I try to go vegetarian. The main reason I do is to allow organs such as my liver a rest day, just like how I give my body a rest day from training to repair and recover. Also, when I was growing up, my mom would cook vegetarian meals two days a week. So, it has been ingrained in me to eat a vegetarian meal once or twice a week.

When I was younger, I would cringe at the thought of vegetarian days (usually Tuesdays and Fridays) at home. On these days, I would look at ways to improvise my meals so that I can get out of eating my mom’s vegetarian dishes. I typically end up having toast/chapati (Indian wholemeal flat bread similar to tortilla) with peanut butter and jam. However, as I grew older, I started enjoying my mom’s vegetarian dishes so much so that my mom had to double the size of her dishes.

One of my favourite childhood vegetarian dish that my mom used to make was tofu patties. However, I do not like the potato in the patties and the deep frying involved as it is too time consuming and labour intensive. So, today I will share with you my version of pan fried tofu patties.

Makes 10-12 medium sized patties

Ingredients

• 450g firm tofu, shredded;

  

• 1 medium carrot, shredded;
• 1 medium brown onion, finely diced;
• 2 cloves of garlic, fined minced;
• 1 tbsp of corn flour/starch;
• 2 eggs;
• 2 springs onions, chopped roughly;
• Salt and pepper to taste; and
• Coconut oil for pan frying the tofu patties (you can use olive oil but using coconut oil takes the tofu patties to the next level!)

Method

1. In a bowl, thoroughly mix the shredded tofu, carrots, diced onions, minced garlic, chopped spring onions, eggs, corn flour, salt and pepper together. The mixture should be the consistency of burger/meatball mixture. If it is too runny, add more corn flour and if it is falling apart, add an egg;

   

2. Heat a pan on the stove at medium heat. Once, the pan is hot enough, add one tbsp of coconut oil and swirl the coconut oil around the pan so that the oil is spread evenly across the pan;
3. Form a medium sized patty in your palm with the tofu mixture and place it in the pan. Add as many patties as the pan will allow onto the pan;

   

4. Allow the patties to cook and once the patties turn golden brown, it is time to flip the patties over. Once both sides of the patties have turned golden brown, it is time to remove the patties from the pan;

   

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the tofu mixture is finished; and
6. Enjoy the tofu patties with a salad, own its own or as a burger.