BBQ butternut squash, courgette, mushroom and tofu skewers with a red pepper dip

INGREDIENT (6 skewers):

Ingredients skewers:

• Butternut squash
• Mushrooms (any kind)
• 2 Courgettes
• 300g of firm tofu
• A bit of flour (normal or gluten-free)

Ingredients marinade:

• Soy sauce
• 1 tsp smoked paprika powder
• 1 tsp BBQ seasoning
• 1 tsp garlic powder/granules or minced garlic
• Juice of 1/2 an orange
• Splash of Sriracha sauce (or tabasco sauce or a bit of chilli powder)

Ingredients red pepper dip:

• 2 medium sized red peppers (you could even mix a yellow one in)
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika powder
• 1tsp BBQ powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder/granules or minced garlic
• 3/4 tsp salt
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• A large handful of pine nuts
• 1/8 cup of water
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp tomato paste

METHOD:

Peel the butternut squash, cut into half, remove the seeds and chop up into bite sized pieces for the skewers. Boil for 10 minutes (not too long as you don't want it to go mushy). Once done take them out of the water and let cool down or run some cold water over the butternut squash.

In the meantime remove the seeds from the red peppers, chop them up and add them into a blender with all other marinade ingredients. Make you you don't add too much water as the peppers are already quite watery and you don't want the dip to be too liquid. Blend until you get a smooth texture. Once done pour the mixture into a pot and cook for a few minutes for the flavours to really come out. Make sure you keep stirring so it doesn't burn.

Now take your tofu block and squeeze the water out so it can absorb the flavours better (see here for instructions). Then cut the tofu into bite size cubes.

For the marinade, add all ingredients into a small bowl (just big enough for a tofu cubes to be marinated) and stir to mix it up.

Put some flour on a separate plate and then dunk your tofu cubes into the marinade. Make sure it's covered on all sides with marinade. Move over to the plate and carefully coat the cubes in flour . Keep the marinade for the next step.

Cut the courgettes into roughly 1.5 cm thick slices, chop up your mushrooms and start assembling your skewers adding also the butternut squash and tofu. Using a spoon drizzle the marinade over the vegetables (not the tofu).

Put them on the grill, let them sizzle and enjoy your vegan BBQ.

And you know what goes well with that? Vegan coleslaw (see recipe here) and potato salad (and here), oh yes! And if you have some butternut squash left why not try this sunny butternut squash and orange soup recipe.