I normally don't consume deep fried food very often but when the theme this week was deep fried, I decided to go ahead and have some fun food. For me fried food is fun.
To compensate for indulging in something I don't do often, I added a salad to the dish.
Many people I know are wildly opposed to tofu, saying that it has no taste. I personally love the texture and all of the possibilities it has especially for vegans like me.
What I did for this dish is marinate the tofu over night. It really does make a difference. You can choose your marinade. I always soak it in tamari or soy sauce, lemon juice or lime juice and a little seasoning like garlic powder or onion powder. You can soak it in broth or anything that has a salty taste.
I chose firm tofu for this but it depends on your personal preference. I sometimes like medium tofu and in the past, I have had fairly soft tofu, deep fried which I also liked.
After it's marinated remove it from the liquid and coat it with seasonings and flour. I used cornstarch, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, paprika and chili powder.
For the salad I wanted papaya. They didn't have papayas as green as I'd hoped but I thought I would use this anyway. Unfortunately I left my tool to make long strips, at work so I used a grater instead. It was kept simple with lime juice and salt. I added some green onion as well to toss with it.
I wanted the tofu to have a tropical kind of sauce since it was going on a papaya salad so I decided on mango coconut.
I simply added 2cups frozen mango, 1 cup thick coconut milk, 1 sliver ginger, 2 cloves garlic, juice of a lime salt, agave nectar and a teaspoon of cornstarch to a blender.
Then it was added to a pot to boil and thicken slightly.
Meanwhile the tofu was ready to go into the hot oil and fry until it was nice and golden. It was nice and crisp on the outside.
I added it on top of papaya salad which was on a bed of arugula. I dressed the arugula first with a simple vinaigrette of white balsamic and olive oil with a little salt.
It was topped with the mango sauce and sprinkled with coconut flakes and crushed peanuts.
I added also a little chopped red onion to the salad.
It was a very filling salad which amazed me after so many people I know have declared lately that meatless meals won't fill them up.
I would rather not be too stuffed anyway personally, so I can eat more later. It's one of my favorite pastimes. Does that sound sad?
Have a good day everyone!