Warm Tofu and Herb Salad with Shredded Cabbage, Carrot, and Lime
Strips of tofu seared until the edges go crisp, tossed hot through shredded napa and red cabbage, carrot, mint, cilantro, and basil with a sharp lime, chile, and garlic dressing and toasted sesame over the top.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
In the hottest part of the summer this is what I want, and also in February when everything I have eaten for a week has been brown and soft. The idea comes from the Vietnamese table, where herbs are treated as a vegetable rather than a garnish and a bowl of them turns up next to almost every meal. Three cups of torn leaves sounds like a lot until you eat it, and then it is obvious: the mint is cooling, the cilantro is citrusy, the Thai basil is faintly like licorice, and each bite lands somewhere different depending on what your fork picked up.
The temperature contrast is the point. The tofu goes into a hot pan in strips and comes out with crisp golden edges, then straight onto the cold shredded cabbage, where it wilts the leaves it touches and leaves the rest crisp. Dress the salad at the last possible moment, because cabbage this thin starts to soften as soon as the lime hits it, and half an hour ahead you will have something limp instead of something alive. The dressing is a loose take on nuoc cham: lime, a little soy, a spoonful of maple to round the sourness, chile, garlic, and ginger.
There is enough tofu in each bowl that this is dinner rather than a first course, and it comes together in under half an hour with a knife and one skillet. I make it when I want a plate that wakes me up, and I make a second batch of the dressing at the same time because it keeps in a jar for two weeks and rescues almost anything. Leftovers are honestly good the next day for lunch, softer than the first night but still bright, and they need only a fresh squeeze of lime.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb firm tofu (two blocks), drained, pressed, and cut into finger-length strips
- 1/2 small head napa cabbage (about 12 oz), shredded thin
- 3 cups shredded red cabbage, from about 1/4 small head
- 3 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks or coarsely grated
- 5 scallions, sliced thin on a long angle
- 1 packed cup mint leaves, torn
- 1 packed cup cilantro leaves and tender stems
- 1 packed cup Thai basil leaves, torn
- 1 jalapeno or 2 Thai bird chiles, sliced into thin rings
- 3 garlic cloves, grated to a paste
- 1 1/2 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 3 tbsp lime juice, from 2 limes, plus wedges for the table
- 1 1/4 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Instructions
- Press and cut the tofu: Drain the blocks and press them between folded towels under something heavy for ten minutes while you cut the vegetables. Cut each block into finger-length strips about half an inch thick and blot them dry on all sides.
- Shake up the dressing: Combine the lime juice, soy sauce, maple syrup, sesame oil, grated garlic, ginger, and half the chile rings in a jar and shake hard. Taste it: it should be sour first, then salty, then just barely sweet, and sharp enough to make you sit up. Adjust with a squeeze more lime if it feels flat.
- Build the salad base: Toss the napa cabbage, red cabbage, carrot, scallions, and the herbs together in your widest bowl, lifting with your hands so the leaves stay whole and the shreds do not compact. Keep it cold and undressed until the tofu is out of the pan.
- Sear the tofu: Heat the avocado oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high until it shimmers. Lay the strips down in a single layer and leave them for three to four minutes, until the undersides are deep gold and lift cleanly, then turn them and give the second side two to three minutes more. Work in two batches rather than crowding the pan.
- Dress and serve immediately: Pour most of the dressing over the salad and toss quickly with your hands. Lay the hot tofu strips across the top, spoon the last of the dressing over them, and scatter the toasted sesame seeds and the remaining chile. Bring it to the table right away, while the cabbage under the tofu is still half wilted and the rest is still crunchy.
Variations
- Peanut and lime: Scatter a handful of roughly chopped roasted peanuts over the top with the sesame seeds for a heavier crunch.
- Cucumber and radish: Add a sliced cucumber and a handful of thinly sliced radishes to the base for more water and snap.
- Tempeh: Sear planks of tempeh in place of the tofu for a firmer, nuttier bite against the herbs.
- Warmer and smokier: Toss the tofu strips with a quarter teaspoon of five-spice before searing so they come out with a darker, sweeter crust.
- Mango: Add a diced firm mango to the salad in the summer, which plays against the chile and the lime.
Storage & Leftovers
Dressed, this is at its best within the hour and still good for a day. Keep leftovers sealed in the refrigerator and eat them within twenty four hours, knowing the cabbage will have softened and the herbs darkened, which makes for a different but perfectly nice lunch. A fresh squeeze of lime and a few new herb leaves bring it most of the way back.
Undressed, the parts keep much longer. Shredded cabbage and carrot hold three days in a sealed container, the dressing keeps two weeks in a jar in the refrigerator, and the seared tofu keeps four days. Storing the three separately turns this into a five minute dinner on a second night.
Nothing here freezes well. Cabbage and herbs both collapse on thawing and the crunch is most of the reason to make the dish. If you want to get ahead, sear the tofu and shake the dressing a day early and leave the knife work for the evening you eat it.
Notes & Tips
- Slice the cabbage as thin as you can: Thin shreds tangle with the herbs and take the dressing evenly. Thick ones sit in wedges at the bottom of the bowl and never soften at all.
- Herbs go in whole: Torn or whole leaves give you distinct bursts of mint or basil. Chopped fine, the herbs blur into a green fleck and you lose the whole effect.
- Taste the dressing before it goes on: It should taste slightly too sharp on a spoon, because the cabbage and tofu will mute it. If it tastes balanced in the jar it will taste like nothing on the salad.
- Sear in two batches: A crowded pan gives you pale, soft tofu. Half the strips at a time in a hot skillet gives you the golden edges the salad is built around.
- Toast the sesame seeds yourself: Two minutes in a dry pan, shaking constantly until they smell nutty and start to hop. The difference against the untoasted kind is enormous.
- Dress at the table: Every minute between the lime and the fork costs you crunch. Have the bowl built, the tofu in the pan, and the jar shaken before anybody sits down.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Tofu, shredded cabbage, and a bowlful of herbs come together here in a way that eats far more substantially than a salad usually does. The tofu brings the protein and the calcium, the cabbage and carrot bring the fiber and the crunch, and the lime dressing ties the two together.
- Firm tofu is set with calcium salts, and cut into strips and seared hard it takes on enough color and chew to be the center of the plate rather than something scattered over the top.
- Napa and red cabbage belong to the same family as broccoli and kale, and they bring vitamin C, folate, and a fiber that keeps its texture, since neither one is cooked long enough to give up its snap.
- Carrots cut into matchsticks stay sweet and crisp against the sour dressing, and their beta-carotene is what gives the bowl its orange, the same pigment your body turns into vitamin A.
- Mint, cilantro, and Thai basil are used here in the quantity you would normally use for a vegetable, cooling and citrusy and faintly of anise, and the vitamin C in the lime alongside them helps your body take up the iron the tofu is carrying.
- As you eat, notice which herb your fork happened to pick up in each bite and how the cold cabbage gives way where the hot tofu has been sitting, and let the sharpness of the lime slow you down between mouthfuls.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I dress it ahead for lunches?
Pack the dressing separately and combine them at the table. Cabbage sliced this thin starts to give up water within about twenty minutes of meeting the lime, and by the next morning a dressed bowl has gone soft. Undressed, it travels beautifully.
What if I do not like cilantro?
Leave it out and increase the mint and Thai basil to make up the volume. The dish depends on a real quantity of herbs rather than on any particular one, and a mix of mint and basil alone is still excellent. Torn perilla leaves are another good addition if your market has them.
Does the tofu have to be hot?
That contrast is what makes the bowl, so I would keep it. Cold seared tofu is still tasty and makes a fine packed lunch, but the moment where the hot strips half wilt the cabbage underneath them is the best mouthful in the dish.
How do I get crisp edges on the tofu?
Press it, blot it, get the oil properly shimmering, and give the strips room. Crowding drops the pan temperature and the tofu steams in its own moisture. Two unhurried batches take four minutes longer and are worth every second.