Vegan Chicken Mocknuggets

Preheat oven to 275°F and place a cookie sheet fitted with a wire rack inside into the oven to warm.

Heat the oil to 425°F in your favorite deep frying vessel (a wok, cast iron skillet or Dutch oven) on the stove top over medium heat.

Drain the skallops and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Cut any very large skallops in half so pieces are uniformly 1½ to 2 inches in diameter. Set aside.

Whisk together dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a large mixing bowl. Add water and vodka and whisk to combine until a smooth but relatively thin batter forms that falls off the whisk in ribbons.

Coat skallops one at a time in the batter, allowing excess to drip off, then gently lower them into the hot oil. Be careful not to crowd the pan. Cook up to ⅓ of them per batch depending on the size of your pan. Flip and agitate them constantly as they fry until they reach an appealing golden brown on all sides, roughly 4-5 minutes. Remove them from the hot oil with a slotted spoon. Drain mocknuggets on a paper towel then transfer to the baking sheet and keep warm in the oven as you finish remaining batches.

Any leftover batter following the final batch can be discarded. If you want more, there should be enough batter left to fry another can of skallops. Serve with the dipping sauce(s) of your choice.