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Vegan Soylent Green

Vegan dish parodying the 1973 sci-fi movie Soylent Green in which a popular green food is found to have dystopian ingredients.
Vegan Soylent Green

Combines Tofu with Lentil for the Soy-Lent name pun (though in the movie it's wafers said to be made of "high protein plankton from the oceans"), colored green and figure shaped for the full "Soylent Green is People!" joke.

INGREDIENTS:
  1. 1 block Extra Firm Tofu.
  2. Small gingerperson or angel cookie cutter (about 1-2" tall).
  3. 2 large cans lentil soup.
  4. 2/3 cup dry split green peas (optional).
  5. Green Food Coloring.
  6. Salt.
  7. Onion Powder.
  8. Large saute pan.
  9. Stock Pot.
TOFU:
  1. Completely drain the tofu block first.
  2. Cut large slices along the long or short edge about 3/4" thick.
  3. Lightly press each slice to further drain water.
  4. Cut each slice into people using a cookie cutter, alternating orientation to maximize the number of pieces. Keep the interstitial tofu remnants for your own leftover uses later.
  5. Some cooks suggest freezing the tofu first for best cutting, but it hasn't proven necessary. Just start with extra firm, be delicate, press the cutter firmly down, and remove figure by pushing a finger gently in the middle of the cutter.
  6. Lay the tofu people out in a baking ban, glass recommended to minimize the chance of staining.
  7. Make the coloring/seasoning slurry: In a cup, mix about 1/2 cup warm water, 1 tsp salt, 2+ tsp onion powder, and 4+ drops of green food coloring. Mix well with a fork.
  8. Dollop a spoon of slurry onto each character. Let it overflow and sink in.
  9. Later flip them and repeat the coloring. Wait.
  10. After soaking, drain the pan. Optionally remove extra moisture by pressing the top tofu surface with a paper towel.
  11. Heat a large saute / frying pan with a generous layer of corn oil. Keep temp low enough to not burn the oil, but high enough that a test droplet immediately sizzles.
  12. Quickly place the tofu people spaciously to cover the frying pan.
  13. Let them sizzle undisturbed at least four minutes. Thorough cooking reduces risk of tearing off the colored surface when flipping, and gets a good crunchy finish.
  14. Once well cooked on the first side, flip the characters delicately (in FIFO order of course). Use an unperforated thin metal spatula, pressed hard against the pan if needed to dislodge.
  15. Thoroughly cook the second side, 4-6 minutes.
  16. Turn off heat and carefully remove people from the pan. Place on a paper towel sheet on a cooling rack.
  17. Makes more than a dozen per tofu block.
SOUP:
  1. Your choice of Lentil soup style, plain, with roasted veges, whatever, as long as the ingredients are carefully checked as vegan.
  2. In practice I found common commercial soups too watery and drained them through a strainer first to remove some liquid bulk. The goal is that the soup be thick enough so that the tofu people remain on the surface. This should be easy because tofu is light, but also the soup should be close to stew consistency. Optionally make your own thick lentil soup from scratch.
  3. To thicken it up I also added about 2/3 cup of dry split peas, cooked separately in a few cups simmering water until al dente, then thoroughly drained and let sit to fully evaporate excess moisture. Then added to the lentil soup, which as a bonus makes the dish greener.
PRESENTATION:
  1. Create a bed of soup with 1-2 ladles into a bowel. Place several people on top.
  2. Serve with a small side jar strawberry preserve with its own tiny spoon for a deep cut movie plot reference and delicious flavor accent counterpoint.
  3. Speak about the tofu people being a metaphor for real humans. Must be handled delicately during development and may fall apart easily, and you have to let them cook without interfering because they can be thin skinned, but once they're mature they have a hard exterior but are still mushy inside.
  4. Store leftover soup and people separately.


2024.11.26

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