February 25, 2008: Soy bombs

My mind's been ticking over ever since Elly announced the Eat to the Beat! blog event. I love a theme, and I knew I could meld meals and music since I count Fiona Apple, Cake and Custard among my favourite music-makers. There are lots of songs out there likening loves to sweet treats, but Warrant's tune Sweet Cherry Pie really isn't to my taste. Ben Lee is more my style, but listening to the lyrics of Cigarettes Will Kill You, I couldn't fathom what he was suggesting I make! (Though clearly it was not to be served up with cake... listen for yourself using the player at the end of this post and tell me what you think is cooking.) Perhaps, like Talking Heads, I was destined to Stay Hungry.

Then, channelling the Eels, Michael chipped in with "Whatever happened to soy bomb?" The lyrics of this song are rather bleak and not at all related to food, but I liked the idea of soy bombs for dinner. A google search for tofu balls turned up a pleasant-looking recipe from Post-Punk Kitchen and I figured I'd give it a go. I wasn't that wrapped with the meatballs-and-spaghetti-style serving suggestion, but latched onto a commenter's use of sweet chilli sauce for dipping. We'd be having our soy bombs with sweet chilli and salad.

I was impressed with how easily the mixture came together into balls (I have a checkered history when it comes to vege burgers, balls and the like) and they smelled pretty good too. As I fried up the second pan-full, I idly picked up one from the first batch and took a bite. Holy mother of tofu! These are incredible! I couldn't get over the fact that they do actually kind of taste like pork-mince meatballs. The flavour was so much more than the ingredients that went in. I madly posed and photographed them, frying up a third pan-full before Michael arrived home. Exhausted from his netball game, I barely let him sit down before stuffing one into his mouth. "Don't look at the recipe - just taste it! Aren't these great? Guess what went into them!"

He was moderately impressed at that time, but over the course of the evening as we worked our way through more (now with salad), neither of us could stop with our exclamations. "Mmmm! So good! And such simple ingredients! I'd definitely make these for guests." The only thing I noticed after eating copious numbers of these is that they were a bit salty, probably because the peanut butter I used had added salt. So if your peanut butter also includes salt, consider reducing the amount of soy sauce by a bit.

So try 'em. And try this small collection of foodie rock'n'roll as you mix, roll and fry.

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Three other tasty tunes I wish I'd been able to add:

• How To Make Gravy by Paul Kelly
• Milk by Garbage
• Pumpkin Soup by Kate Nash (you can listen to this one on her myspace page!)
  

Finally, before I give this fantastically simple and simply fantastic recipe, I've got a riddle for you:

What do you get after dropping a soy bomb?

The answer is the name of another foodie song in my CD collection, and will be revealed in the next post.


Soy bombs

500g extra firm tofu
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons soy sauce (less if your peanut butter includes salt)
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
fresh basil, roughly chopped/ripped (or another herb of your choice)
~1/2 cup plain flour
~1/3 cup vegetable oil

Crumble the tofu into a large bowl. Add the onion, soy sauce, peanut butter, breadcrumbs and basil; combine thoroughly. Roll the mixture into balls about 3cm in diameter and lightly coat them in flour.

Pour vege oil into a non-stick frypan so that it's about 2mm deep. Heat the oil until not quite smoking and add a tofu ball - it should sizzle in the oil. Once it does begin to sizzle, add more balls to the pan, turning them after a minute or two to develop an even crust. When they're done, transfer to absorbent paper and continue with the remaining balls.

Eat right out of the pan, or dipped in sweet chilli sauce, or with spaghetti and tomato sauce, or on a sandwich. I bet you can find other ways to enjoy these too!