Food Under Foot: Recipe: Puffball Nuggets

Calvatia gigantia - Giant Puffball Mushroom

Giant Puffball! So exciting and fun to find!!

Here is my friend Trish last year on our bike to DC, finding some:

And yet, with their marshmallow-like inside, the texture when cooked (sauteed) is not the best. Sort of mushy and lackluster...not really my favorite mushroom.

That is, until today!

I found if you put the crunch on the outside, it doesn't matter so much if it's soft on the inside. In fact, it's better that way!

Because I am doing a vegan oil-free type diet right now (a la Forks Over Knives) I knew I didn't want to saute these in oil or butter. But what else could I do?

That's when the old noggin took over and voila, deliciousness was born. These are such tasty puffball nuggets I am hoping I find more out there this season!

Recipe: Puffball Nuggets

vegan, gluten-free, oil-free

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Get two bowls. In one, put tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) and water in equal amounts. In the second, make the "breading."

Breading 1

rice chex-type cereal
nutritional yeast
black pepper
dried basil
dried thyme
dried parsley
dried cilantro

Crush the cereal and mix everything together. You can add or omit spices as you have them or to your taste. I did not put salt in because the tamari is salty.

Breading 2:

blue corn chips
nutritional yeast
cumin
tumeric
dried coriander
chili powder
cayenne pepper

Again, mix and match spices as you like. I was going for a Mexican theme with the corn chips. You can also use yellow or white corn chips. Crush corn chips (I used a spice/coffee grinder) and mix with spices and nutritional yeast.

3. Now, take your puffball:

Slice it
Peel it (peel the outer skin away from the marshmallow-y inside, it easily comes off, but you can also cut it off if you want. I peel each slice rather than trying to peel the whole mushroom before I've cut it!)
Cut it into "nugget" or "finger" sized pieces

4. Take each piece and first dip into the tamari mixture: