Dukkah Salad with tofu for a vegetarian salad recipe that will tick all of your boxes!
Salad recipes make a quick and easy dinner like our Salmon Zucchini Salad and our Chicken Cucumber Salad as well as making you feel good from the inside out!
How to make warm salads for winter?
I have mentioned in a few of my latest posts that it is cold in Vegas (we Aussies call Brisbane 'Brissie' or 'Brisvegas' or 'Vegas' as an affectionate nickname). So that means most of our food options are hot or steaming.
Tofu is such a versatile ingredient. Coated with the dukkah and combined to make a salad, your tastebuds go to heaven!!
The trouble with trying to eat clean or healthy during that time is that cold salads kindof suck during winter. It is just not the same going to the fridge at lunch time, opening it and seeing a cold container of food compared to a glass storer that will microwave up a storm to warm you and your soul into believing that it is not as cold outside as it seems!
How to make Dukkah Salad with tofu?
This Dukkah Salad with tofu came about as I really wanted to try and stick to the healthier options (especially during the week) but I didn't want to eat cold foods. I LOVE Dukkah! It is a spice blend that is super easy to make and pretty much anything coated in it, tastes SOOOOO good.
You can make it yourself, but for a week night, I would recommend the store bought variety. It can be hectic, pushing time to get yourself and family all sorted and ready for work the next day, so if you can make life a little easier, I would.
The other thing I wanted to do in creating this recipe is to give you options. This is primarily a vegan dish.
I know some many friends and co workers who follow a vegan lifestyle and I have said before that I understand this. I am not vegan but do have animal welfare at the forefront of my cooking, so you can either see this dish as a Meatless Monday option, full vegan if that is your lifestyle or as a side dish to another main meal.
Dukkah Salad as a main meal or side dish?
Let's firstly talk about the dish as if you were going to have it as a side dish or lunch option or a lighter lunch. The combination of the Quinoa, Kale, Capsicums (Bell Peppers for my American Pals), dukkah and lemon Juice IS GOOD! You could easily eat this on it's own. At times, in eating clean, I think you can feel a little bored or like you are eating just little bits and pieces (I came across a blog recently called Eating Bird Seed and I think that is true)
There are super healthy options out there but you still want to feel satisfied after a meal and not that you have only been able to peck at your food!
I know that this is a vegan recipe so I don't want to put anyone off by talking about meat options with it. However, put simply the dish has a Mediterranean taste to it, so you could accompany it with a few different options if tofu is not your thing (or fake meat if that is your thing).
Hero of the dish...
For this Dukkah Salad, I wanted the dukkah to be the main star of the dish. Not only do we use it to coat the tofu we also put some of it in with the Quinoa. WOWieeee the flavour with that and a squeeze of some lemon juice is SPOT ON my friends!
I use a small zip lock bag to coat the tofu pieces, you can seal it all on there and really move it around a bit to get good coverage on all of your tofu pieces. We are not going to bother putting it in the fridge after doing that unless we want to go to bed at midnight then we won't get any beauty sleep.
Portion size for Dukkah Tofu Salad?
In writing the recipe, I have done this dish for 2 people. Mainly as I am focused on the weeknight cooking but also as the ingredients just work really well for 2 people. Or 2 serves if you are a single and want one meal for dinner and the rest for the next days lunch. If you wanted to whip it up for more people, I would recommend doubling the recipe as opposed to 1 ½ of the quanity as the best thing with the 2 serves is that you don't have leftover ingredients in the fridge.
You use ALL the tofu, ALL the Dukkah, ALL the bell peppers, but wait I lie....you do have some leftover kale (hello SMOOTHIES), and quinoa still in the packet, but you don't have ¼ block of tofu or one scrap of capsicums (bell peppers) etc etc.
Making Dukkah Tofu Salad
So, I think it might be about time we got to that recipe, right folks!
On a side note, remember in my post for Dark Chocolate Rocky Road how I said that Tonks, wanted me to play with him with the elastic from the shoes? Well, we have been doing that. But now he has ramped it up a notch. I have never seen a cat do this until I had him, but he CAN SERIOUSLY PLAY FETCH!! If you go WAAAAAAY back on my insta feed before I let my passion for food and food photography out of the bag, you will see a clip where I am throwing him a hair band and he brings it back.
So I am telling you this as I sit and write to you guys, he keeps coming up to me with the elastic which I then fold into a little ball and throw for him and he goes and gets it and brings it back, IT IS SO ADORABLE! (@tonksandco if you are a fellow animal lover).
Dukkah Tofu Salad
Ingredients
Dukkah Tofu
- 45 grams Spicy Dukkah Store bought or self made if have time
- 250 grams firm tofu Organic works well
- 1 tsp peanut oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Quinoa
- 1 cup quinoa ½ cup will cook in 1 cup of water, so use 2 cups of water to cook
Salad
- 400g jar of marinated capsicums drained
- ⅓ bunch kale leaves chopped roughly
- 1 tsp peanut oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp lemon juice from bottle is fine
Instructions
- Cut tofu in ½ lengthways, then into small bite sized cubes. Open a zip lock bag, fill with the Dukkah and tofu pieces and shake thoroughly to coat the tofu. Set aside whilst you cook the quinoa
- Cook the quinoa by adding 2 cups of water to saucepan and one cup dry quinoa, boil and stir till all of the water is absorbed
- Add the peanut oil to a fry pan, add tofu pieces, season with salt and pepper and cook turning the pieces with a pair of tongs until all pieces are crispy. Bits of dukkah might start to brown too much in this time, if so scoop them out and place on paper towel as we will add them back in later. But they won't taste great burnt. When tofu is cooked, remove and place on paper towel, don't rinse this pan and start using straight away again for the next step.
- Use the rest of the peanut oil in the bottom of the pan, add kale and capsicums, saute for approximately 4 minutes until the kale is bright green .
- Add the quinoa to the pan at this stage, and any leftover toasted dukkah.
- Add lemon juice and stir to combine
- To serve portion out into bowls and top with the Dukkah Tofu
Notes
- It goes without saying, but this salad is served WARM.
- Salad will and keep in the fridge for a few days
- Reheats really well for work lunches
- Don't skimp on the lemon juice if you can avoid it, it adds freshness and flavour
Nutrition
Vegan recipes
Okay, so I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit more about VEGAN meals. You know me well enough by now to know THAT I LOVE NOODLES! In saying that here are my favourites:
- Kale and Fennel Vegan Noodles
- Vegan Yellow Curry Noodle Bowl
- Meatless Monday Vegan Noodles
- Vegan Brown Rice Noodles
Thank again as always for visiting my blog, I love having you here.
- Adrianne x (from bloody freezing Brisvegas, I never want to leave home again)
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If healthy salad recipes are your thing, then here are some more to float your boat:
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I've had a jar of Dukkah for ages that needs using up. And I LOVE tofu - thanks for the awesome recipe.
You are welcome Katherine!
How delicious! Warm salads are my absolute favourite this time of year, and this one looks absolutely fantastic. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers Maria! Glad it appeals to you.
What a delicious way to use tofu. I really need to have tofu in salads more often.
Cheers Danielle! It is a great non meat option!