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dani california cooks

homegrown and homemade in CA

Baked Lemon Garlic Tofu and Kale Salad

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To me, this is the ultimate balanced lunch - it has plant-based protein, healthy fats, and hearty greens and LOTS of flavor and only a few ingredients. I eat this almost every day when I’m on the road, so I recreated it for home!

Also - if you haven’t entered in the giveaway for a Wild Friends snack pack - there is still time!

If you’ve been reading DCC for some time, you’ll know that one of my favorite lunches to have on my weekly business trips is curly kale massaged with tahini and lemon juice, tossed with a garlic baked tofu I pick up at a local health foods store. Well, I was working from home this past week and all I wanted was that same damn kale and tofu salad. What gives? Sometimes we are just creatures of habit! I mean, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’ve been on an eggs for breakfast kick for about a year with an intermittent, short-lived smoothie phase this summer.

Massaging your kale at home is much more appropriate? cleanly? It’s less attraction-inducing, for sure. I usually try and find a place in the kitchen at my client site that’s away from the race to the microwave so I can massage my kale in peace, but let me tell you, I get a LOT of weird looks. Just some tender loving care with salad over here - nothing to see, people.

Baked Lemon Garlic Tofu and Kale Salad | danicaliforniacooks.com

Regardless, I’m sure you’re seeing a ton of delicious posts around the blogosphere for lots of holiday meals and goodies. But if you’re like me, those are generally enjoyed just on the weekends or special birthday occasions. There’s no need to have egg nog for lunch on a Tuesday! I actually don’t think I’ve EVER had egg nog. I don’t even quite know what is in egg nog, but I believe it’s alcoholic? Let’s google that.

Baked Lemon Garlic Tofu and Kale Salad | danicaliforniacooks.com But before I google that, I’m off to make myself one of these kale salads for dinner (yum!!) Not sure why I’m craving one of these salads on this rainy and foggy evening, but I hope you find some time to fit this into your holiday routine…or maybe your New Years Resolution routine?

Baked Lemon Garlic Tofu and Kale Salad
 
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The ultimate balanced salad - healthy fats, plant-based protein, and hearty greens - and tons of flavor.
Author:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • 1 block extra firm tofu, cut into cubes
  • One lemon, halved
  • 1 tbsp tahini
  • 2-3 cups of curly kale, stems removed
  • Olive oil spray
  • 2 gloves garlic, peeled
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
  2. Place the cubed tofu on a baking sheet, and spray lightly with the olive oil
  3. Squeeze half of the lemon juice over the tofu
  4. Using a cheese grater, grate the two garlic cloves over the tofu. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
  5. Place in oven for 15-20 minutes, or until browned and "chewy"
  6. When you're ready for lunch, wash your hands!
  7. Place your curly kale in a bowl, and squeeze the other half of the lemon over it
  8. Spoon the tahini on top of the kale and use your hands to break down the leaves and massage the lemon juice and tahini into the kale
  9. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and toss in ⅕ of the tofu
  10. Enjoy!
Notes
Bake up the whole block of tofu, and assemble this salad for lunch all week! I use about ⅕ of the baked tofu for each individual salad.
If you like this, you’ll love: Marinated Chickpeas and Kale Salad

chick2

Tofu Lettuce Wraps with Mango

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Served in fresh butter lettuce, tofu and mushrooms are cooked in a simple, fresh peanut sauce and topped off with mango. Enjoy as an appetizer or with brown rice for a full, healthy meal!

wrap First of all, let’s wish Mama Dani California Cooks a very happy birthday tomorrow! I wish I could say this meal was made in honor of her, but I’ve never seen her make tofu or eat lettuce wraps so…

I am such a creature of habit sometimes. I could probably have the same things for breakfast (eggs, or egg white oatmeal with PB), lunch (tuna salad) and dinner (salmon and veggies or tofu lettuce wraps) every day throughout the week and be happy. But I also love to try new foods and I LOVE to go out to eat and I obviously love to try new recipes! At the end of the day, I just end up eating a lot. There you have it.

let2 I discovered these tofu lettuce wraps at my favorite restaurant when I’m on the road in Spokane and I’ve been dying to recreate them at home - you know, because I don’t eat them enough during the week. You’ve seen them on my Instagram (see below) and my blog before. I probably could eat those lettuce wraps every day when I’m on the road! (I probably have, one week). So I put together a new take on these lettuce wraps, and I love them. The wraps at the restaurant are flavored with a lemongrass-ginger sauce and have crushed hazelnuts and peppers. These wraps have a more savory sauce with peanut butter, but with a little julienned mango for sweetness. I served them to two non-vegetarians and they loved them!

Mizuna’s lettuce wraps…

Loving this beautiful bouquet of tofu lettuce wraps for #dinner tonight! #vegan

A photo posted by Dani Nemzer (@danicaliforniacooks) on

And my take on the lettuce wraps!

wraps4 This recipe is super easy - it’s really just a new take on the stir-fry. Instead of placing your stir-fry over rice, place it in butter lettuce cups! Then you eat them like a taco [read stuff your face and get all good n’ messy]. The most difficult part of this recipe is getting the texture down. Tofu is not the easiest of things to work with. You have to drain it of its moisture, and let me reassure you, there is a LOT of moisture in tofu. I go through several handfuls of paper towels for even just using one block of tofu. But once that is done and your tofu is cubed, it’s an easy sautee and then an even easier plating. The presentation is beautiful - I love all of the colors. It looks impressive without being a complicated cooking effort. Always a win in my book.

wraps2 I have to say thank you to Mizuna for providing the presentation ideas of these lettuce wraps, and of course the original inspiration! Sylvia of Feasting at Home was the original founder of Mizuna, and she has fantastic vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes on her blog that are homemade, restaurant quality.

let

Tofu Lettuce Wraps with Mango
 
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Serves: 3-4 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 block extra firm tofu, drained and cubed
  • 5 shiitake mushrooms, roughly chopped
  • 1 head of butter lettuce, leaves separated
  • ½ mango, julienned
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter, room temp or warmed
  • 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 3 tbsp peanuts, roughly crushed
  • Red pepper flakes
  • Additional olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Remove your tofu from the casing, and layer between paper towels. Place something heavy on top of it to drain. You will have to replace the paper towels several times - tofu has a lot of moisture!
  2. While draining, roughly chop your mushrooms
  3. Once drained, cube the tofu into 1 cm x 1 cm cubes
  4. Place the tofu and the mushrooms in a pan with a little olive oil, and begin to cook on medium heat. Turn tofu cubes frequently, until golden brown
  5. In the meantime, whisk the peanut butter, ginger, vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper thoroughly. It helps if the pb has been warmed or is at least at room temp
  6. Pour sauce over tofu and mushroom mixture, and turn on low heat. Allow for sauce to thicken and soak up into the tofu and mushrooms
  7. Place your butter lettuce leaves on a plate or platter. It's ok if they are of different sizes - you will just have some smaller/some larger portions!
  8. Carefully spoon a 2-3 tbsp of the tofu mixture into each butter lettuce cup
  9. Lay 2-3 pieces of the mango, and then sprinkle on the crushed peanuts
  10. Shake red pepper flakes to taste
  11. Serve and enjoy!
If you like this, you’ll love: Tuna Salad Swiss Chard Wrap

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Crispy Tofu with Spicy Ginger Almond Butter Sauce

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Make your own restaurant-quality vegan spicy ginger almond butter sauce and serve with crispy tofu! Spicy Ginger Almond Butter Sauce with Tofu | danicaliforniacooks.com When we’re working up in Spokane, the lunch orders vary from awesome, fresh salads to…questionable ensembles. The other day at work, I ordered a steamed tofu and veggie dish (pretty bland, to be honest) and it came with a spicy peanut sauce on the side. The sauce was of course delicious - but you could just taste the sugar in it. I honestly never knew how much sugar went into those sauces until I took a Cambodian cooking class! So I set out to make my own version that I could use over and over again in stir frys and as dipping sauces that would be approved in my kitchen - and keep it vegan (many of those in restaurants include some kind of shrimp paste). After lots of taste testing, I found the perfect combination that combines only four ingredients. Voila!

Spicy Ginger Almond Butter Sauce with Tofu | danicaliforniacooks.com So the key to making tofu with great texture and doesn’t crumble is to drain its liquid. The easiest way to do it? Wrap it in a bunch of paper towels and lay your heaviest book on it for a couple minutes! In the meantime, start your sauce. All this takes is a base of almond butter, and add in some grated ginger, soy sauce and Sriiiiiiiiiiiiracha. You can change the ratios based on your liking. I ended up adding in quite a bit of ginger because I’m a huge fan of the sweetness and spiciness it adds.

Spicy Ginger Almond Butter Sauce with Tofu | danicaliforniacooks.com

Just making a mess with ginger

To get crispy tofu on the outside but chewy on the inside, put a tablespoon or two of olive oil in your pan and get it real hot. Then sear your tofu for several minutes on each side until golden. The great thing about this combo of tofu + almond butter sauce is that it comes together in minutes, and then lunch or dinner is ready to go. Very minimal cleanup as well! And I actually think this may be something that I might try and giving the boyfriend…we’ll see.
Spicy Ginger Almond Butter Sauce with Tofu | danicaliforniacooks.com Poor Sally was looking particularly exhausted as I worked away in the kitchen. She’s 14 years old (in human years)! What a good pup. Too much stuff going on in the house - she can’t handle all of the commotion in her old age.

Spicy Almond When your tofu is done, spread on the sauce or use as a dip. I might even sautee vegetables with the tofu and cook the sauce with all of the different ingredients before serving! And I definitely will be using this combination to make spring rolls when I decide I want to try out using rice paper - I’ll save that for another time! I served my tofu next to a bed of raw kale and proceeded to eat it while watching The Princess Diaries. A lunch of champions. Hope you enjoy!

Tofu with Spicy Ginger Almond Butter Sauce
 
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Create restaurant worthy crispy tofu with a homemade spicy ginger almond butter sauce.
Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 block of extra firm tofu
  • 4 tbsp almond butter
  • 1 tbsp Sriracha or another garlic chili sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce (use gluten free if necessary)
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • Olive oil
Instructions
  1. Release the moisture from your tofu by draining it using paper towels and a heavy item
  2. Slice into tofu "steaks", about ⅓ inch thick
  3. Heat up your olive oil in your pan on medium-high heat
  4. Place the tofu in the pan and sprinkle on the red pepper flakes
  5. In the meantime, mix your almond butter sauce ingredients
  6. Flip your tofu after 3 mins or so, or until golden
  7. Flip a couple of additional times, depending on how crispy you want the outside of your tofu
  8. Place tofu on a plate, and pour sauce over portions
  9. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
The sauce can be made ahead of time, or kept in your fridge in a sealed container for several weeks!

Spicy Ginger Almond Butter Sauce with Tofu | danicaliforniacooks.com