from Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk
I've had the zine this recipe is from forever, and I bought it because of this very recipe. I've had every intent to make these wingz for over a year now, even going as far as buying ingredients, but never managing to do it before now. It wasn't that I was scared they wouldn't be delicious - I'd seen them all over the vegan food blogs (or "flogs", as some of my friends call them), lovingly photographed and described. I was afraid that they would be complicated, and for some reason I assumed they would be fried (they're not), and I have breading and frying issues. I think the real reason is that I didn't consider buffalo wings to be something one could cook at home. They seemed to be the kind of food that was only available in certain bars and diners, foods that tend to be breaded and deep-fried and come with a side of ranch dressing. It seemed impossible to make decent buffalo wingz, at least without purchasing a deep-fryer, a step I was unwilling to take. And I hadn't even tried wingz in years and years, so maybe they weren't even that good.
But then we had this appetizer at Cafe Vita in Portland called "Buffalo Things," these squares of deep fried tofu in a spicy buffalo wing sauce, and they were
so good. The boyfriend and I kept telling random people about them, saying things like "You don't understand, it's like all the goodness of fried tofu plus all the goodness of buffalo wings,
together." Sure, there was a deep fryer involved, but it was still inspiring. We had reaffirmed our commitment to buffalo wings.
And
Jessy kept posting pictures of the wingz and talking about how delicious they were, and I was fairly sure Jessy didn't own a deep fryer, she seems way too healthy for that. This is pretty much what got me to crack and finally attempt the recipe: every time she posted a picture of them, I'd leave a comment that said something like "Dang, I need to make those!" until finally I just did it.
And they were easy! Super easy. Okay, I got some bread crumb goo on stuck to my hands during the breading process, but it wasn't a big deal. And they were so, so tasty. I kept stealing little bits of them while I was putting them on our plates, and I was fairly sure they were going to completely blow my boyfriends mind with their deliciousness. Unfortunately, I got too excited and was all "Taste this! Taste this! It's so good!" and he was like "Eh, it's pretty good, but I don't think it's as good as
that other tempeh" because he has to be contrary.
I served them with some steamed broccoli and a creamy silken tofu/herbs/balsamic vinegar sauce, which was the perfect counterpoint for the spicy deliciousness of the wingz.
Local: Broccoli, herbs