Lightly Spiced Tofu, Peanut Dressed Noodles & Crunchy Salad

1 May 2025  (Thursday)

A brand new month, and another hot day… and by 2pm the Met Office was already stating that today is the hottest start to May on record.  We all know why, even if some choose to ignore the fact for their own financial gain or through blinded ignorance!

Another busy desk day, and I’m trying a new dish tonight which has two ingredients I’m not yet fully au fait with, cooking wise… tofu (though am getting there) and noodles…

Anyway, before that there was watering to do in the morning at the plot, the community library to visit to take three books back, and on my way back a pop into Lidl to see if they have bran sticks, which they didn’t!  I am noticing, as Lidl grows, there are more things in our quite large branch that are being taken off the shelves… they no longer sell their own-branded yeast extract, selling Marmite instead… they no longer sell their own rye crackers, like Ryvita but better and cheaper… and sometimes they have none of their own-branded English mustard, promoting Coleman’s instead.  Now I think they’ve discontinued selling their own-branded bran sticks… so, off to Sainsburys or Morrisons at some point in the not too distant future to get THEIR own-branded bran sticks!

Richard’s been doing a big, BIG spring clean of the garden AND the house over the past week or so, and decided to tackle the dressing room today.  With open wardrobes and fabric there’s always an accumulation of dust… and skin… and hair!

I sat down at 4pm, choosing to take an hour out from everything… I deserved it.  Though I did want to get the membrane up from on the other half of the plot at the front… and it was not going to do itself… but it was rather hot so maybe another day… though at this time of day that area is largely shaded by the apple tree and shed of the plot next door… so…

Down I went, and got the job done… and another segment of A Week at the Plot in the bag… well, on my SD card ready for transferring the files to my computer and editing tomorrow morning!

So, back to supper…

I’ve been wanting to make a warm salad for a while, with tofu and noodles.  I’m nervous…  This does not quite fit the bill as a warm salad, as basically it’s a warm noodles and tofu dish with a cold, crunchy salad, but I’m getting there.

I am getting used to cooking with tofu, and beginning to really enjoy it, though noodles are a challenge still.  I’m not experienced at cooking noodles, though the packet instructions couldn’t be easier - four minutes in simmering salted water.  I want a sauce as a dressing, as I think they may be a bit bland…  And I definitely want a salad with crunch to it, though what dressing?

I often find the tofu marinades and noodle sauces I see online as too sweet - too much maple syrup, or brown sugar, or molasses of some sort.  And with dressings I need to be careful too as I don’t want anything that is too vinegary with too much sweet as it can set off my Barrett's, and let’s not even go into the amount of hot chilli sauce being used these days!!!

This looks like a lot of ingredients, and it is, but it IS easy to make.  You can make the noodle dressing a day or more before and keep in the fridge, as you can with the marinated tofu.  The crunchy salad does need to be made within an hour of eating though!

Lightly Spiced Tofu, Peanut Dressed Noodles & Crunchy Salad

Ingredients (serves 2)
200g Extra Firm Tofu, frozen, defrosted and well pressed
1 tbsp olive oil
160g Noodles (I used two slabs from a Lidl pack of 250g)
Half a red onion, sliced thinly
150g radish, washed, dried, top and tailed and slices into £1 coin thick rounds
200g white cabbage, shredded finely
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
¼ tsp salt

Noodle Dressing
1 tbsp peanut butter, I used smooth
1 tsp maple syrup, or honey
2 tsp liquid aminos, tamari, or soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic, grated
PLUS 2 tbsp hot water kept whilst draining the noodles

Tofu Marinade
1 tbsp Sesame Oil, or your preferred oil
1 tbsp Liquid Aminos or soy sauce
1 heaped tsp Paprika, I used smoked

I now keep tofu in the freezer so it’s ready to defrost from 24 hours before using.  You end up with a firmer tofu this way, though if you wish to use straight from a fresh chilled packet please do.  Press the tofu between your palms and over a sink a few times to remove as much liquid as possible.  I then put between a well folded and VERY clean fresh tea towel and press again.

After this process, lay the block on a cutting board on one of the two largest sides, and cut in half lengthways.  Now cut these long cubes of tofu every 1cm or so - hopefully this will leave you with flat squares about 1cm deep.

In a lidded container mix the tofu marinade ingredients well, and then add the tofu, and either stir gently or add a lid and shake gently.  You want to coat the tofu.  Leave to one side with a lid on for a few hours - if you have time!. You can do this step the day before to get ahead of the game, just keep the container in a fridge.

When you’re ready to make the meal, first, make your salad by adding the prepared red onion, radish and cabbage to a bowl, and sprinkle over the tsp of rice wine vinegar and ¼ teaspoon of salt.  Give a good stir with your clean hands, or a clean spoon, then leave to one side to marinate whilst you cook the tofu and noodles.

Put a full kettle on to boil, or bring a pan of about 1.5litres of water to a boil.

Whilst the above is coming up to a boil, heat a frying pan with the olive oil - you don’t want it to smoke.  Lay the tofu slices flat side down and cook for two minutes, then turn and cook for two minutes more.  When this is done turn the heat right down and carry on cooking, turning regularly as you go.

Whilst the tofu is cooking, mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl, apart from the water from the cooked noodles which will be added shortly.

Pour the boiling water from your kettle into a pan big enough to fit your noodles.  Bring back to the boil, pop in your noodles and cook as per the packet instructions.  Mine said four minutes, though needed five (unlike pasta which often needs much less cooking time than the packet instructions say!).  Break the noodles up with a fork as they cook to separate if needed.

Once the noodles are cooked, drain them using a sieve or colander, keeping aside about a cup of the liquid.  Take two tablespoons of this liquid and add to your noodle dressing and stir through till smooth.

Remove the tofu from the pan, preferably to a warmed plate.  Now add all the marinade and stir, and when lightly bubbling (which could be virtually instantly), add the noodles and stir gently though thoroughly to dress.

Add your salad to two plates, add half the dressed noodles, then place half the tofu on top of the noodles.

Enjoy!


Weather:  Hot. though bearable.  Met Office have stated this is the hottest start to May on record!

Breakfast:  Bran Sticks, yogurt, banana and sultanas
Lunch:  Quorn ham, allotment lettuce, homemade coleslaw, Lidl wraps - Richard had some mustard in his
Supper:  Lightly Spiced Tofu, Peanut Dressed Noodles & Crunchy Salad