Breaded fish centerpiece – Vegan

Who’s ever watched Spirited Away and not walked away wanting to eat all the food!? Well, I couldn’t resist, I had to try making a vegan version feast! Problem is, there’s no recipes for most of the food in the film. Certainly not vegan either! This is part of a series of recipes I’m developing to make a vegan Spirited Away feast! Here’s my experience creating one of the recipes:

When I saw that huge fish in No-Face’s feast, I knew we’d need one for the party! I’d seen intricate designs done before with pie crust and I figured flavor-wise that’d be a good thing to try. It was a heavenly combination! Plus the bean curd sticks looked so lifelike as fins!

Given that fish is a popular winter holiday centerpiece feast dish, I highly recommend this recipe for a peaceful, gorgeous fishy dinner as well!

For our feast, we served it with this curry recipe, and holy moly, it was an incredible combination! (We subbed the shrimp/chicken with this fish recipe instead, basically.)

Here’s a visual step by step if you’d like to try making your own vegan fish centerpiece:

Ingredients

If you can’t find all the ingredients, I think most substitutions should be fine. If you experiment, let me know in the comments what worked for you!

Instructions

Place the bean curd stick piece into a small bowl with water to soak. When it’s soft, remove from the water and set aside for later.

Cut the tofu in half so that you have two large fillets. Set down chopsticks on either side of the fillets so that the tofu can be sliced but the blade won’t go all the way down. Cut the tofu to have about 1/4″ wide ribbons. (See photo)

Constructing a fish shape

Take one of the fillets and turn it into a tall pentagon, which will be the base for the tail muscle. Use the extra triangles for the tail and the dorsal fin. You can use toothpicks to hold the pieces together better if you’d like. (See photo)

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Dredging

Place the cornstarch in a medium sized bowl and set aside.

Breading

Place the bread crumbs, smoked salt, garlic powder, dill, and onion powder in a separate, medium sized bowl and set aside.

Oil marinade

In a third medium-sized bowl combine olive oil, garlic and herb seasoning, paprika, dill, pepper, soy sauce, miso paste, dulse flakes, hoisin sauce, and nori. Set aside.

“Egg” wash

In a small bowl, add olive oil, non-dairy milk, and maple syrup. Stir to combine and then set aside.

Coat the fish

Get a large baking sheet and set either parchment paper or a silicone sheet on top.

Dip tofu fillets into the dredging cornstarch first, making sure to dust off any excess cornstarch. Then dip the tofu plank in the oil marinade mixture, using your hands to spread pieces of the clumped nori on the top of each fillet. Finally toss the plank in the breadcrumbs, rolling the bowl around to let the breadcrumbs pour over and stick to the oil. Add more breadcrumbs as needed.

Arrange the coated fillets onto the baking sheet.

Adding pie crust and finishing touches

Use a tablespoon to make scale shapes with the pie crust. (See photos for a visual tutorial of the next few steps.)

Make several scales at a time. Baste the scales with the “egg” wash and then start decorating the fillets with scales. The head shape is mostly a semicircle wrapped around the front. You can cut to add a gill on either side.

Try to build stair step layers of scales for the dorsal fin area so it’s rounded out, instead of being such a sharp jump from the body.

The fins are a teardrop shape, with the pointy end going towards the body. You can cut the bean curd stick into that shape with scissors once it is softened. Use “egg” wash on the pie crust to create a little gripper that will hold the fin in place, then attach it to the scales on the body by adding some pressure with your hands.

Bake at 350° F for 35 minutes or until the pie crust is golden brown. Note that the fins are edible (nice and crunchy) and you can keep an eye on it to prevent them from burning.

Garnish with sliced lemon and a bed of whichever leaves you decided to use underneath.