RECIPE: Vegan Noodle Salad with Soy and Ginger Tofu

This supper is absolutely delicious and unbelievably easy to make - perfect for those busy mid-week nights. This recipe is also ideal for the end of the week when you need to sue up those veggies left in the fridge but don't have enough of anything for a complete meal. 

How are you all by the way? Have you been taking part in Veganuary? I know I bang on about it a lot but I found a blog post today that I wrote in October about going vegetarian/vegan and realised I never published it. I am going to review my words after the Veganuary experience and publish the blog post so look out for that one. I have found that telling people I am vegan has led to many people saying 'but why', 'where do you get your protein' and the classic 'do you miss bacon'. I actually really feel for people who made this commitment way back when people thought vegans were basically aliens (think pre-1970s). Having a nut allergy certainly makes this journey harder but to be honest it's really not all that hard. You eat more vegetables and more carbs, providing you avoid the highly processed vegan 'treats' and meat alternatives yet people still think this is some sort of crazy diet. Long story short, it's better for me, the environment and the world as a whole. 

OK vegan rant over, here's today's recipe! This is really a combination of left-over vegetables, noodles and marinated tofu. Though I try to limit my soy intake, tofu is pretty much a staple in the vegan diet. It provides protein, that 'main element' on a plate and added flavour profiles. That said, marination is absolutely essential as tofu kind of tastes like cardboard when eaten alone. Let me know if you make this recipe in the comments below.

Ingredients - Serves 2
For the salad

• 1 1/2 portions of soba noodles, cooked and rinsed
• 1/2 a pack of beansprouts (about a handful each)
• 1 sweet red pepper, chopped into thin strips
• 2 carrots, chopped into thin strips
• a handful of chopped coriander
• a handful of chopped mint
• 1 fresh chilli, chopped into tiny pieces

For the tofu

• 1/2 a block of tofu
• 2 tbs of soy sauce or tamari
• a 2cm piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tsp of sesame oil

Method

Start with the tofu. Chop the tofu into 1.5cm wide strips and add into a bowl. Pour over the soy sauce and sesame oil, then grate in the ginger. Put this in the fridge for at least an hour. When you're ready to eat bake the tofu in the oven at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes. Make sure to turn half way if your oven is as terrible as mine.

While the tofu is cooking, move on to the noodle salad. Cook and then rinse the noodles according to the pack instructions. Throw these into a large bowl and drizzle with a tiny bit of sesame oil to loosen up. Add in the raw beansprouts, red pepper and carrots then sprinkle over the fresh herbs and chilli. Toss together then add a sprinkling of soy sauce if you want a saltier flavour. 

Serve the salad in two bowls then top with the slices of tofu. Enjoy!

Note: I used these really cool green tea infused soba noodles which gave colour and just a hint of flavour. You can make these yourself by cooking your noodles with a single green tea teabag in the water.

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