Thai Cabbage Salad

On Mackinac Island we had a delicious Thai salad -- Brian loved it and I liked everything about it except the (I thought) overly vinegary dressing. So I googled to find a Thai peanut sauce that didn't rely on either coconut milk or lots of vinegar. I found a great one on Chow. (It's actually Vietnamese, but let's not quibble.) I used the sauce for dipping tofu, broccoli and cauliflower, and we drizzled some over the sweet potato, too. Yum! I made it just like the recipe stated, but used my regular peanut butter (and so omitted the sugar) and I used more water to make it creamier.

But even though I made only half the recipe, we still had a lot of sauce left over. I decided to thin it with water to salad dressing consistency and use it for the Thai cabbage salad -- the reason I had searched for the recipe in the first place! It was delicious! You could try the dressing on any slaw, but I'll put down what I used, just FYI.

Thai Cabbage Salad

A word on chile-garlic paste: I keep it in the fridge and it seems to last forever. Normally a tiny amount will do because it's so fiery, but I used what they said here and it was not too hot. I think the peanut butter attenuates the heat. (Sometimes I add 1/4-1/2 tsp to a big pot of bean soup and it's really nice.) I've been keeping hoisin sauce in the fridge for a variety of uses, too.

(Here's the slightly adapted half sauce recipe, and I diluted about half of this for the salad dressing. You can see the full recipe at Chow, link above.)

3/8 cup peanut butter

3 Tbs water (and more for thinning to desired consistency)

1-1/2 Tbs hoisin sauce

1 Tbs lime juice

2 tsp sodium reduced soy sauce

1 tsp chili paste with garlic

1 clove garlic, mashed or minced

1 tsp roasted sesame oil

Whisk all of the ingredients together. Before serving, thin to desired consistency for a dipping sauce or a dressing.

Salad

I sliced about half a small head of cabbage (I wanted to use Napa or Savoy cabbage, but they looked pretty bad in the store, so I used a regular head) and about a quarter small head of red cabbage. This is easy if you use the slicing blade of a food processor. I also sliced some snow peas, then grated a zucchini, half a cucumber, and a couple carrots. I added some slivered almonds and chopped cilantro, then tossed it with the dressing. Before serving, I put in some pan-fried tofu cubes.

Another Saturday Salad with Tofu

Saturday lunches are really great this time of year. I go to the farmer's market in the morning and we have wonderful veggies and fruit and fresh Pekara bread. How much better does it get?

This week we had mixed greens with snap peas, red onion, red bell pepper and grated raw beets (and of course, our choice of salad dressings prepared earlier in the week). I think it was either Mark Bittman or Martha Rose Schulman who first introduced me to grating raw beets into a salad and I have been doing it ever since. Beautiful and tasty!

We also had crispy tofu cubes in this salad. Easy to make and I love having them on hand, though we like them so much they are hard to keep around. I buy extra firm tofu (not silken), cut it into chunks and freeze the pieces on a cookie sheet. When they are thoroughly frozen, I pop them into a freezer container and they are ready to pull out whenever I need them.

Don't be alarmed when your frozen tofu cubes look yellow -- it's not harmful, and the color returns to normal when the tofu thaws. I thaw the cubes in the microwave on high. It takes a couple minutes or so, depending on how big the pieces are and how many you have. Then squeeze (gently) the water out. Freezing releases the water and makes the tofu chewy and absorbent. It will quickly absorb whatever marinade you put it into. There's no need to let it sit in the marinade for a long time, I cook it immediately.

The marinade is your choice. My default is 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce per pound of tofu, with a little Chinese sesame oil added for good measure. If you use more soy sauce than that, it will be ultra salty. You can always add a little water (remember that you lost a lot of water when you squeezed the tofu) to make the marinade go further. I add the tofu to the marinade all at once and toss quickly so it absorbs evenly. Spread on a foil lined cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray and bake, turning once part way through. You can use most any temp from 350 to 425 degrees, and the time varies accordingly. I cooked mine at 425 for 20 minutes, turning at 10 minutes. So good!

You can also cut the tofu into slabs (I do about 10 per pound) and cook those the same way. Great for sandwiches.

Not Rolf's Mother's Chinese Chicken Salad

Years ago I had a friend whose Norwegian mother had a dynamite recipe for Chinese chicken salad. At some point I quit frying noodles to add to the salad, then I quit eating meat, switched out the iceberg lettuce for other greens, and finally added a variety of veggies. I still love Rolf's mother's salad, but it's not really her salad anymore.

All it takes for me to make this salad is greens, baked tofu cubes or soy chicken, some veggies, and the delicious salad dressing -- it's one of my favorites. Today I added the leftover Chinese asparagus from a couple days ago. If you use that, you barely need to add any additional dressing -- but don't worry, the dressing is great on all sorts of salads (even pasta salad) and keeps for a long time in the fridge.

Chinese Chix Salad

salad greens
leftover Chinese Asparagus Salad (from two days ago), or other veggies
cubed baked tofu or soy chicken (or even leftover cooked chicken meat)
Rolf's Mother's Chinese Dressing, use as needed:
   2 Tbs sugar
   1/2 tsp black pepper
   2 Tbs reduced sodium soy sauce
   6 Tbs rice vinegar
   2 Tbs toasted Chinese sesame oil
   1/2 cup canola oil

Combine salad ingredients in a bowl. To make dressing, mix all dressing ingredients together. Drizzle on salad as needed and store the leftovers in the fridge. Shake before using.