Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Curried Tofu Salad


I love the idea of a tofu salad with a creamy dressing that can be eaten as a side dish, a snack or as a stand alone meal. Add curry powder and you've got me. This tofu salad recipe originally called for 1/2 cup of mayonnaise but I couldn't bring myself to do it so I used 1 cup of 3.5% plain yogurt. While this recipe is good, I think the spices need some tweaking - maybe adding some coriander.

School has started for me again and I know for many of you. Good luck to us all! So far we haven't made anything exciting, unless you think starch and gel solutions are exciting, but on Thursday we're doing candies!


If this sounds good, you might also like:
Bulghur Grape Salad
Lemon Miso Tofu & Eggplant
Matthew's Delicious Tofu
Santa Fe Pasta Salad

Curried Tofu Salad
Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special

The recipe suggests you blanch the tofu first, but I don't see the point of that so I'm omitting it from the recipe. If you want to blanch the tofu, it suggests doing it for 3 minutes. Aside from using plain yogurt instead of mayo as mentioned above, I added in extra seeds and extra curry powder. To make this vegan substitute soy yogurt or try nayonnaise.

1 cake of tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
1 red bell pepper, seeded and minced
1 green bell pepper, seeded adn minced
1 celery stalk, minced
1 tbsp green onions, minced
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp curry powder (note: The recipe suggests 1 to 2 tsp)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

In a serving bowl, toss together the carrots, bell peppers, celery, green onions, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, curry powder, and lemon juice. Stir the dressing into the vegetables and set aside in the refrigerator.

Mix the tofu into the vegetables and add salt and pepper to taste. Chill for at least an hour, to allow the flavours to emerge.

23 comments:

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

It looks good. I have this cookbook also. I often use drained yogourt to replace sour cream or mayo. Cuts down the calories and fat.

kickpleat said...

I've got almost everything in the fridge for this already! I don't have that cookbook, so maybe I'll have to get that one because this recipe really does look great.

Anonymous said...

Sounds delicious! And I do love finding new ways to use tofu! (I think they used to blanch it to remove the "beany" taste, but I've never found that it made any difference. :)

Nicole said...

Incredible photos!

Anonymous said...

Oh sounds good. And what great photos!

Brad and Ahnah said...

Wow!!

Anonymous said...

Yum! I want to go home and make this right now!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

That sounds and looks really good! It is calling out to me even though I am not a big fan of tofu (I think I am scared of it).

Snooky doodle said...

though I don 't like tofu I have to admit this looks too. I like curry too :)

Fitness Foodie said...

So colorful. I want to learn to cook more with tofu.

CookiePie said...

WOW - that looks fantastic! I must make that - I bet it would be divine with some whole-grain toast on the side...

Anonymous said...

Hi! Just found your blog and it looks really yummy! I would consider myself a flexitarian and really enjoy experimenting with vegetarian recipes. I recently started my own blog, and even though I don't really have followers, it's a lot of fun! Thanks for a great blog.

kristen :)

Cakespy said...

This sounds SO good. I wonder if some turmeric would taste good in it too.

Anonymous said...

Oh, sounds fantastic! I love pairing curry with just about everything (including desserts!) so I'm sure I would adore this... Using soy yogurt, of course. :)

Anonymous said...

This sounds good! I don't think I've ever tried curried tofu before. Thanks for sharing!

The Duo Dishes said...

Mmm, sounds currily delicious.

Lisa said...

That sounds wonderful. I like the idea of tofu salads but have few recipes. I don't like mayonnaise but a curry yogurt dressing instead is brilliant. Thanks for the great idea!

theoddbod said...

wow, very unique looking salad. enjoy!

Joanna said...

i am so jealous of your schoolwork!! have fun making candies. that must be so neat.

Sarah @ Taste My Plate said...

This tofu salad looks delicious! I've wanted to find new ways to use tofu. I'm not a vegetarean but I love tofu.
I'm also from Vancouver, well Richmond to be precise.
I'll let you know how the tofu salad turns out when I get to making it ;)
Thanks! I really like your blog

Sarah @ Taste My Plate said...

HI, it's me again. Also just to let you know I don't have many veggie recipes on my blog at the moment (except for a couple desserts) but there will be some coming if you care to keep an eye out. JFYI ;)

Anonymous said...

sounds delicious. you might also want to try nasoya nayonnaise as a substitute. low fat and has a really nice flavor with veggies. one of the better mayo substitutes i've found.

Anonymous said...

First time here... Amazing stuff! Really Yummy!

Will be back for sure!

Greetings from Brazil