Soba Noodle Salad with Veggies, Tofu, and Ginger-Miso dressing [Vegan]

Big news here at diced tomato! I'm moving back to nyc this fall. In the meantime, I'm frantically trying to use up the stockpile of food in my pantry. Somehow, this means making a lot of Asian-inspired food. Between the bulgogi and the peanut noodles we've gone a bit crazy here.

Today, I threw together this noodle salad. I kind of made up the dressing but it turned out pretty well. I even made some more to use for a stir fry I made later and to put on regular salads.

Ingredients

1/2 lb of dry soba

veggies

1 sweet red pepper, roughly chopped

2 small (persian) cucumbers sliced into rounds, skin on

1 avocado, in 1/2 inch cubes

10 basil leaves, chiffonaded

sesame seeds

tofu

1/2 block (7-8 oz), thinly sliced extra firm tofu

olive oil for the pan

dressing

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp soyaki (or more soy sauce)

1 tbsp (yellow, mild) miso

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp fresh, grated ginger

2 tsp sesame oil

1 small shallot, thiny sliced

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

1. Prepare the soba noodles as per the package instructions. When done rinse in cold water.

2. Mix the dressing ingredients and combine well.

3. Cook the tofu. Place enough olive oil in a skillet just to coat the bottom and place over medium high heat. Toast the pieces of tofu in the skillet until they are golden brown on each side - about a few minutes on each side.

4. Just before the tofu is done, toss the noodles, pepper, cucumber, and dressing.

5. To serve, place a layer of noodles. Top with a few pieces of avocado, a few pieces of tofu, sprinkle with some basil and some sesame seeds. If desired, sprinkle a little more red pepper flake and cayenne pepper on top for an added kick.

Vegan "Bulgogi"

Ok. So "Bulgogi" in it's direct translation can't actually be vegan since it involves meat. But Tofu in the style of Bulgogi - as it turns out - is completely delicious! For those of you who aren't familiar with it Bulgogi is a korean beef dish of quickly cooked beef that's been marinated in a delicious sweet and spicy sauce.

I saw this recipe on Manifest Vegan and I knew I had to make it ASAP.

I set it up in the AM and just made a portion for lunch and it was fabulous. I didn't have green onions, but it was excellent nonetheless. I also didn't have a pear, so I substituted an apple instead. Plus, I used 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup trader joe's "soyaki" because I didn't have enough straight soy sauce.

Ingredients:

1 block superfirm tofu (I used TJ's high protein extrafirm tofu) sliced into 1/4 inch "steaks"

4 green onions, chopped - use the whole bits

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, sliced

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

2/3 cup soy sauce

4 tbsp sesame oil

6 tbsp sugar

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp red pepper flake

1 tsp cayenne pepper

4 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 medium apple, grated (skin and all - none of the core)

1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Olive oil (for pan)

1. In a smallish dish (I used an 8x8 square pan) layer the tofu. Next, sprinkle on top the green onion, onion, garlic, and ginger.

2. In a separate bowl, mix all the remaining ingredients (except the olive oil). Make sure they are well combined.

3. Pour the liquid mixture over the tofu and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to marinate in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight.

4. When read to cook, heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Fish out the tofu from the sauce and place a layer of tofu on the bottom of the skillet. Next, add enough sauce and veggies just to cover the tofu and allow to cook for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened and the bottom of the tofu begins to caramelize. Flip the tofu pieces and cook for another minute or so.

5. Serve immediately. I chose to serve it over brown rice which absorbed some of the delicious remaining sauce. I also chose to add an additional sprinkle of red pepper flake, but this is up to you.

Peanut Noodles with Stir-Fry Vegetables [Vegan]

I saw this really delicious looking recipe of whole wheat linguine with winter vegetables. At Trader Joe's yesterday a bag of "stir fry" vegetables caught my eye. It's a cabbage, carrots, celery, bok choy, and some other vegetables (snow peas!). Perfect for this recipe (and already prepped!). Of course, if you can't find the stir fry mix (most supermarkets have something similar in the frozen section) you can always make your own by cutting up some cabbage, bok choy, carrots, snow peas, celery, etc... and making your own. But this is much simpler.

I decided to change a few thing around. Adding some citrus to the peanut sauce and some more spice. It was excellent. Note, this is best eaten on the day it's made and probably best not to eat too much since it can be quite heavy.

Ingredients:

1 16oz bag of "stir fry" vegetables

1/2 bag (8oz dry) of whole wheat spaghetti, cooked (you can keep the pasta water around to thin the sauce)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

For peanut sauce:

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

Juice of one medium size lemon or large lime

Cayenne pepper (to taste)

Salt, to taste

For garnish:

Sesame seeds

Red pepper flake

1. In a large pot or dutch oven add the olive oil and bag of vegetables and cook over medium heat until softened. Add the garlic and saute for a minute or two just until softened. Cut the heat.

2. In the meantime make the peanut sauce. Mix all the ingredients together until smooth. Add some of the pasta water to thin out the sauce until it's thinned and smooth but not too watery. Think runny yogurt consistency.

3. Put the cooked pasta in the vegetable pot and turn the heat back on. Add the peanut sauce and toss to coat. Cook just until everything is heated through.

4. Serve in a wide bowl with a sprinkling of sesame seeds and red pepper flake. Eat immediately.

Apple, Ginger, & Watermelon Radish Slaw [Vegan]

This weekend it was 72 degrees F in the bay area. In early February. I believe we broke the record high. It was gorgeous and sunny and perfect. It rivaled most of the nicest summer days we get around here. Yesterday we spent the day roaming around the waterfront on our bikes and walking around some of the local marinas dog watching, but today we got up early to do laundry and watch the Chelsea vs. Liverpool game (go Liverpool!).

After the match, we went to the Farmer's market as usual and found it was crammed with people and a lot of stuff was gone by the time we got there (no firm tofu!). But I managed to pick up a few more watermelon radishes.

I didn't want to roast anything with the weather being so warm, so I decided to keep it raw by making a slaw with carrots, ginger, apples, and some citrus. It was nice and easy with the grating disc of the food processor (1 bowl dish!). A box grater would've worked, but it would've been much more tedious.

We used this slaw to top an open faced sandwich of pan-seared extra firm tofu "steaks", avocado, and spicy mustard on a baguette.

Ingredients

4 small watermelon radishes, peeled

4 carrots, peeled

2 small apples, peeled and cored

1 inch cube of fresh ginger, peeled

3 tablespoons orange juice

3 tablespoons lime (or lemon juice)

salt to taste

cayenne pepper or minced spicy peppers - such as a jalapeno (optional)

1. Using a grating disc or box grater, grate the radishes, carrots, apples, and ginger. Add the citrus juices and salt (to taste) to the vegetables.

2. If desired, add some cayenne pepper or minced peppers to the slaw to spice it up.