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Tofu and Ginger Asian Salad Recipe
This mouthwatering Asian salad is great if you fancy a refreshing salad but you still want to use the grill. The marinade and grill transforms the tofu into a real joy to eat and the arugula and bean sprouts add a nice texture. The tofu is marinated in a garlic, soy sauce, honey, and chili paste mixture before being grilled. You can let the tofu stand at room temperature for up to an hour before you grill it, if you like. This is a good idea if you want to maximize the flavor of the tofu. Tofu has very little flavor of its own, which is why when it is used to make Asian salad recipes, it is usually marinated first.
The ginger miso dressing for this Asian salad recipe can be refrigerated for up to four days, which is handy to know if you want to make extra, if you want to make it ahead, or if you have some left over.
The onion is grilled before being added to the salad, which makes it soft and really juicy. You can either use white onion or sweet onion in this recipe. Actually, a Vidalia onion would be good with this Asian salad recipe because this onion's sweetness would go really nicely with the other sweet ingredients like the honey and carrot juice.
Asian Salad with Grilled Tofu and a Ginger Miso Dressing
Ingredients -
2 lbs firm tofu
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 minced cloves garlic
1 cup arugula
1 quartered white onion
1 cup bean sprouts
2 tablespoons peanut oil, plus extra for grilling
1 tablespoon black bean chili paste
2 tablespoons honey
For the Ginger Miso Dressing:
2 peeled cloves garlic
2 chopped carrots
2 tablespoons yellow miso
⅔ cup carrot juice
¾ inch fresh ginger
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons minced fresh basil
¼ teaspoon white sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
Preparation:
Cut the tofu blocks into ½ inch thick slices and pat them dry.
Combine the honey, garlic, soy sauce, black bean chili paste, and 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil in a bowl and spread half of this mixture over the bottom of a glass dish.
Top it with the tofu and spread the rest of the mixture over the top.
Preheat the grill to moderately hot and brush the grate with peanut oil.
Grill the onion and tofu until it browned, turning the tofu once and the onion when necessary.
The tofu will take a couple of minutes per side. Let it cool, and then cut it into cubes.
When the onions are tender, chop them up.
Combine the garlic, carrots, carrot juice, ginger, vinegar, miso, sugar, and olive oil in a blender and puree until very smooth.
Stir in the cilantro and basil.
Toss the bean sprouts and arugula with the tofu and onions and drizzle the dressing over the top.
Serve immediately.
(Serves 4)
Photo Description:
A lot of Asian salads are nice looking because their presentation is so simple. As you can see from the photograph, cutting the tofu neatly into evenly sized cubes helps to make this Asian salad recipe look attractive. You can also see the onion, arugula, and bean sprouts in the photo. What you cannot see is the delicious ginger miso dressing, which gives this Asian salad such a great taste. Asian salads tend to be a lot lighter than western style salads, mainly because they are not served with heavy, cream-based sauces. This salad can be served in small portions as an appetizer or larger ones as an entree.
