Vegan Tofu Katsu Salad
This tofu katsu salad is a deliciously fresh take on a Japanese tofu katsu curry. It's made with crispy gluten free breaded tofu, crunchy veggies, brown rice, and a curry sauce inspired salad dressing. You’ll be wondering why you've never tried katsu in a salad before!
Ingredients
- 1 batch baked tofu nuggets (recipe below)
- 250 g brown rice (1¼ cups)
For the dressing
- 2 medium carrots peeled and chopped
- 1 apple peeled and chopped
- 240 g plain dairy free yoghurt (1 cup)
- 1 clove garlic peeled and roughly chopped
- ½ inch ginger peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- ½ tbsp curry powder
- ½ tsp salt
For the quick pickled radishes
- 12 radishes trimmed and sliced
- 125 ml apple cider vinegar (½ cup)
- 125 ml water (½ cup)
To serve
- 1 handful mangetout sliced lengthways
- 2 carrots thinly sliced or ribboned
- 4 handfuls mixed leaves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°c/ 390°f. Make the vegan baked tofu nuggets as instructed here*.
- Place the chopped carrots and apple in a small oven safe dish with a tablespoon of water, cover, and roast them for 20-25 minutes until they’re softened. The tofu nuggets should be ready to come out of the oven at this time too.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice according to packet instructions, or simmer in a large pot of salted boiling water for 20-25 minutes until cooked through.
- Add the softened carrots and apple to a blender, along with the yoghurt, garlic, ginger, rice vinegar, curry powder and salt. Blend on high until completely smooth**.
- To make the quick pickled radishes, combine the sliced radishes with the apple cider vinegar, warm water, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar in a small bowl.
- Assemble your bowl with the rice and veggies at the bottom, and top with the tofu nuggets and katsu curry dressing. You can garnish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and sliced spring onion.
Notes
*I use my baked tofu nuggets recipe here as they are easy, healthy, and gluten free. If you would rather, you can use store-bought breaded protein, or use your favourite breaded veggie recipe.
**If you don’t have an upright blender, you can also use a stick blender to make the dressing.
Storage for meal prep
If you store all of the elements together, you’ll find that the tofu nuggets will lose their crispiness (let’s face it- it’s the best bit!). I like to portion up the cooled rice and vegetables into four large containers.
I keep the tofu nuggets separately in one large container in the fridge and pop them on top of the salad each day. Or if I need to transport them, I’ll keep each portion in a small reusable container.
For dressings, I love to keep hold of small jars which have had things like cooking pastes or jam in them. Once rinsed out, they’re absolutely perfect for transporting this Japanese salad dressing to work. You can buy purpose-made containers for this, but I like to reuse (cheaper and environment friendly!).
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!