How do you make vegetarian fried chicken?

You can’t make a chicken out of vegetables. Only a hen can do that.

Either she’ll have to manage with a substitute, such as a tofu-based dish, or she’ll have to take a break from vegetarianism and actually eat some chicken.

What does she usually do when she gets hungry for something that isn’t vegetarian?

For the “Chicken-Fried” Tofu Steak:

1 block extra-firm tofu, pressed and drained
1 cup non-dairy milk
2 Tbs. ground flaxseed
6 Tbs. warm water
2 cups chickpea flour
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. onion powder
½ tsp. Kosher salt
½ tsp. black pepper
2 Tbs. vegetable oil

Cut the tofu into slices. If you want thin steaks, you can cut the block in half width-wise, then cut each half into 4 thin slices. If you want thicker steaks, cut each half into 3 slices. If you want really big steaks, you can just cut the whole block of tofu into 4 slices. Sprinkle each piece of tofu with salt and pepper.
Mix the water with the flaxseed in a cup or small bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes until it thickens. Put the milk into a shallow bowl. Add the thickened flaxseed to the milk and stir. In another shallow bowl or dish, combine the flour with the spices. Have a clean plate ready to receive the breaded tofu steaks.Working with one slice of tofu at a time, dip it into the flour mixture. Turn to coat. Shake off any excess flour and dip the tofu into the milk/flaxseed mixture. Turn to coat. Finally, dip it back into the flour again and turn to coat. Place the breaded slice of tofu onto the clean plate. Repeat with the rest of the tofu.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Depending on the size of your skillet, you may need to cook the tofu in batches. Don’t crowd the pan or the tofu will not get browned and crispy. You know the oil is hot enough when you sprinkle a bit of flour into the oil and it sizzles. Cook the tofu until it gets golden brown, about 4 minutes. Carefully flip the tofu steaks and cook the other side. The second side usually cooks faster than the first side.

Fry some eggs. You get the essence of chicken from the egg.

There is a vegan product called Gardein which makes all sorts of meat substitutes from only plant based ingredients; I’m not sure about the fried aspect or whether you’d have any success with trying fry it.

gardein.com

,,,
http://www.recipe4living.com/articles/gardein_a_vegan_lifesaver.htm

Quorn frozen food products are eerily chicken like, but are made from a type of mushroom.

You can also replace the tofu in @mcsnazzy ‘s recipe with seitan, which has a much more meatier texture and can be purchased with chicken flavor. Seitan is pretty much all wheat gluten.

This is very funny. Vegetarian fried chicken. But the steps given here is very yummy. Thanks

Sorry, but I wouldn’t use the “Qorn”. I’ve tried them, and I like the flavor and texture, and at first I thought it would be a satisfactory substitute for meat. I then found out that the main ingredient is not mushroom, but a vat-grown fungus. Use of these products by people with sensitivities to mold, mildew or fungus has caused reactions ranging from nausea, dizziness, all the way up to anaphylaxia, according to the website of the Center for Science in the Public Interest website.

I now go with soy or seitan-based substitutes. Here is one recipe that I’ve tried, and found to be a good approximation of fried chicken
. Of course some folks will tell you that everything tastes like chicken

I’ve never attempted to make any vegetarian “fried chicken” but I had the most wonderful and realistic version of fake fried chicken at a restaurant in LA a few months ago. Not sure where you and your friend live, but if you’re ever in LA, you must go to this place called Doomies Home Cooking

I wouldn’t write off Quorn as @Yetanotheruser has, though. Quorn is indeed made from fungus, but guess what, mushrooms are also fungus, but most people are not worried about commerically grown, edible mushrooms, nor are they worried about the mold that is in bleu cheese. There are plenty of things that are made with fungus, mold, fermentation and the like, and some things are also made in vats, like beer and yogurt and cheese etc. Some people reported getting sick after eating quorn, most likely because those particular people have an intolerance to one or more of the ingredients, similar to the way that some (but not most) people have allergies and/or intolerances to dairy products, gluten and peanuts or sugar (if you’re a diabetic). I don’t think that because of those serious problems caused to a minority of people, that should make anyone ban bread, cheese, yogurt or peanuts or chocolate candy from human consumption. And from everything that I have read about Quorn, it seems to be a perfectly reasonable meat substitute for most people. You can read more about it Here and make sure to read all of the comments below the info, because there’s a lot more info provided by some of the readers of the blog.

There are other fake meat products that make pretty good fake chicken, although I’m not sure I’ve seen any that are exactly like fried chicken. Some of the fake chicken products that I like are Morning Star Farms Chik’n Patties which come in several varieties. MSF’s also makes good fake Buffalo Wings

Gardein Products which makes an especially tasty fake mandarin orange chicken, in addition to patties, fingers, and parmesan marinara fillets and buffalo wings.

Trader Joe’s Chicken-less Crispy Tenders

Trade Joe’s Chicken-less Mandarin Orange Morsels

Trader Joe’s Breaded Chicken-less Nuggets

Here are Some Recipes to Try

Fried Chicken Recipe 1

Fried Chicken Recipe 2

Fried Chicken Recipe 3

Fried Chicken Recipe 4

Fried Chicken Recipe 5

Fried Chicken Recipe 6

Fried Chicken Recipe 7

Fried Chicken Recipe 8 Put this one in as kind of a little surprise.

Fried Chicken Recipe 9

Fried Chicken Recipe 10

Hopefully your friend will be able to find something here that tastes good and is relatively easy to make. All of these recipes are made from different ingredients and are made with different levels of complexity. Let us know how it goes : )