Smoky, smooth tofu, chewy apricot & greens, tossed in an awesome creamy Asian inspired, fruity apricot dressing. A healthy, fresh, vibrant & delicious tofu salad!
Can't stop, won't stop with this super tasty tofu salad!
All those flavours, textures and colours. it's so pretty!
In fact, tofu in general has become a bit of an obsession of late. It has such a bad rep, but when done right it's so good and I seem to have quite the collection of vegan tofu recipes going on.
So let's talk about this Smoked Tofu Salad situation.
We've got delicious, smooth, smoky tofu cubes, tender greens, chewy dried apricot pieces, all tossed up in a fruity, sweet and tangy apricot dressing.
Dried apricots are something that I have never used in a salad before but they are so good in this. Their dense, chewy sweetness adds fabulous texture and compliments the smooth, smoky tofu perfectly.
As well as tasting good they are also incredibly good for you. Although the drying process degrades some vitamins (like vitamin C), other nutrients become more concentrated. Because of this, dried apricots tend to provide higher levels of most nutrients than their fresh counterparts. They are high in fiber, iron, potassium and antioxidants. Yay for dried apricots!
Apricots are used both in the salad and in the dressing, which they give it such a lovely yellow colour. The apricots also help to thicken the dressing and make it creamy.
The dressing is thick enough to cling beautifully to the salad leaves.
Rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and ginger, give it an Asian style flavour which compliments the smoked tofu and the apricot pieces perfectly.
This beautiful tofu salad is what I'm eating lately, and I just can't get enough.
So in love....
It makes a great light lunch or dinner. If you wanted to make it slightly more filling you could toss some cooked and cooled rice, noodles or quinoa through it.
Dress only as much salad as you will be eating and store the rest of the dressing in a bottle or jar until it's needed again. By doing this, leftover salad will keep well in the fridge for the life of your salad leaves.
Smoked Tofu Salad with Dried Apricots
Author:
Ingredients
For the dressing
- 8 dried apricots , soaked in boiling water for about 15 minutes
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon dried ginger
- 1 - 1¼ cup water , use the water the apricots were soaking in for extra flavour
- salt & pepper to taste
For the salad
- 1 block smoked tofu , cut into small cubes
- 5 - 6 big handfuls of salad leaves , use your favourite kind
- 1/2 cucumber , chopped
- 1 cup dried apricots chopped into slivers
- 1 cup crunchy mixed sprouted beans ( I use Eat More Sprouts & Greens Mixed Bean Sprouts ) (Optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
For the dressing
- Make sure your apricots have been soaked for at least 15 minutes in boiling water.
- Drain but reserve the water.
- Put the apricots and all of the other salad dressing ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Start with less water and add more gradually until the thickness is as desired.
For the salad
- In a salad bowl combine all the salad ingredients.
- Dress generously with the dressing just prior to serving.
NUTRITION
Nutritional information is provided for convenience & as a courtesy. The data is a computer generated estimate so should be used as a guide only.
Vesta says
Could you possible say the brand of tofu. I tried one that was awful. Thank you.
A Virtual Vegan says
Yes of course. I buy the Soyganic smoked tofu. Here's a link to the website with a picture http://www.sunrise-soya.com/products/soyganic/
It's so lovely that I snack on it as it is all the time! This one is also very good but I'm not sure how available it is everywhere as it's a locally made one here in BC http://www.soyanova.com .Hope that helps :O)
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says
Love the sweet with the smokey! Such a great combo!