- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Total Time: 1 hour 30′
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
Description
This salad can be eaten cold or warm, you can add more veggies to it and modify it according to what you have in your fridge. The goal is to make your bowl as colorful as possible! And what a great way to fuel our body with great vitamins and minerals!
Ingredients
2 cups quinoa (white, red, mixed, any kind will do!)
2 cups of water
1 cup diced Tofu (firm)
1 large sweet potato
3–4 carrots
1 red bell pepper
1/2 cup red cabbage
1 small red beet
2–3 brussel sprouts
1/2 lime
1 cup broccoli florets
1 tbsp turmeric powder
s+p
DRESSING
1/2 cup raw cashews
2 tbsp tahini paste
1/2 lime juice
dice of ginger (about 1 tbsp)
1 tbsp white miso paste
pepper to taste
Instructions
1. Start by soaking your quinoa for at least 1 hour. If you don’t have enough time, at least let it soak for 15 minutes and rinse several times.
2. Tofu comes loaded in water so it is important to remove as much liquid as possible to allow it to soak the flavors of your seasoning once you cook it.
Place your tofu in a sheet pan lined with paper towel, cover it with another sheet of paper and place another sheet pan on top. Add something heavy ( I use a cutting board) so that the weight compresses your tofu and helps it release the water.
If you have time, you can leave it for 1 hour or more in the fridge.
3. While your tofu is being pressed, rinse your quinoa and transfer it to a pot. Add the 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let it cook slowly until all the water is absorbed.
If it isn’t cooked, just add few tablespoons of water until it is fully cooked and fluff with a fork, same as if you were cooking rice! ( about 10-15 min)
4. While your quinoa is cooking, cut your sweet potato into small cubes and your carrots lengthwise. Give them a quick rinse and transfer to a pot. Add water and bring to a boil until they are tender.
Make sure your sweet potato cubes are small so that the cooking time is the same for both veggies.
5. Slice your red bell pepper thinly, shred your red cabbage and peel + slice the red beet and set everything aside.
6. Cut your Brussel sprouts lengthwise in half and transfer to a bowl. Add some lime juice to avoid it to turn brown.
7. Next, it’s time to blanch your broccoli.
Blanching is a cooking method where vegetables are cooked for only a couple of minutes, removed from the heat and cooled right away in an ice bath. By doing this, you are not only retaining your brocoli’s vibrant green color but most importantly its nutrients!
Since we are dealing with a small amount of broccoli, you can skip the ice bath and just make sure that you remove the broccoli from the heat right after it has cooked for 2-3 minutes. Transfer it to a bowl or a strainer and set aside.
8. Remove the tofu from the fridge, cut it into cubes and transfer it into a bowl. Add some olive oil, turmeric, s+p and set aside.
At this point, all vegetables are ready but before we start cooking our tofu, let’s prepare the dressing!
DRESSING
Place all the ingredients in a blender and mix until you get a smooth paste. If it is too thick, add a little bit of water to loosen it up.
9. Continuing with our main ingredients, add a small amount of olive oil to a non-stick skillet, heat over medium heat and add the tofu together with the Brussel sprouts. Brown for about 2 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown.
SETTING UP YOUR BOWL
After all the prepping, its time to get creative!
Assemble your bowl starting with the quinoa and arrange the rest of the ingredients around it.
Note: you can prep a large batch of vegetables in advance as well as pressing the tofu and soaking the quinoa overnight. This will save you time and you will be able to get two meals and prep just once!
Enjoy!
xo