Vegetable and Tofu Kebabs

This weekend, my extended family came up from Calgary to go see Body Worlds and instead of tagging along, I made the food for an evening BBQ. Catering the non-meat dishes for 8 meat-eaters (plus Sean and me) at a BBQ was a super fun challenge, and the next four posts will be a sampling of what I came up with: Kebabs, Potato and Green Bean Salad and Greek Salad for Company.

And what are those things on the end, you ask? My aunt thought that they were wooden knobs to keep the veggies from slipping, Sean thought they were olives, and my dad thought they were mushrooms. They’re actually black zebra tomatoes, an heirloom variety that is firmer than regular varieties and so stands up better on the grill. Of course, you can use regular cherry tomatoes – but why not look for black zebras at your local farmer’s market? They can definitely be found at the Old Strathcona Farmer’s Market in Edmonton, which operates in the old bus barns on 104 St. and 83 Ave. every Saturday from 8am to 3pm.

The marinade for the Kebabs was heavily modified from 1000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles. Enjoy!

Vegetable and Tofu Kebabs
Makes 15 Kebabs

½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
2 tsp. sesame oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. ginger, grated

1 – 1 lb. package extra firm tofu
2 bell peppers (I used ½ each yellow, orange, red and green peppers for colour)
½ red onion
1 pint (2 cups) cherry tomatoes
10 button mushrooms

1. Mix together the ingredients for the marinade. Set aside.
2. Cut the tofu into 1-inch cubes. Cut the bell peppers and onion into large chunks (remember that you’ll have to get a skewer through them without splitting them).
3. Layer the vegetables in one container, with mushrooms on the bottom, then peppers and onions, then cherry tomatoes. Place tofu in another container. (This will maximize flavour absorption).
4. Pour half of the marinade into each of the containers. Marinate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
5. If you are using bamboo or wood skewers, soak them for about 20 minutes before using them so that they don’t burn.
6. Skewer the tofu and the vegetables, making pretty patterns if you like. I did it like this:

Tofu Kebabs:

Tofu-Tofu-Onion-Tofu-Tofu-Tomato-Tofu-Tofu-Pepper-Tofu-Tofu

Vegetable Kebabs:

Tomato-Onion-Pepper-Onion-Pepper-Onion-Mushroom-Pepper-Onion-Pepper-Onion-Pepper-Tomato