Asian Salad With Fried Tofu (Vegan, Gluten-free)

Asian dishes are fun to make and combining with salad… Oh my. There you have delicious and healthy lunch! It’s easy to make and really tasty!

This Asian style salad is good to include in your diet plan or if you try to keep your calories a little lower. It’s made of raw and fresh vegetables. I added kale, carrot, red capsicum (pepper), green spring onion (scallion), and avocado.

Not only does this Asian salad provide you with fresh raw vegetables but it gives you enough protein to survive another day of vegan life. That’s thanks due to fried tofu cubes. Have I mentioned to you how much I love tofu?? I try to include it in every second meal (no kidding).

Oh, wait… Are you not sure about tofu? I am aware there is a lot of rumour about eating tofu often. But you know what? There is absolutely no need to be afraid of consuming tofu regularly. Read this article and get all the information you want to know about preparing tofu, nutrition facts, how to substitute tofu with soy-free products and what the different kinds of tofu are.

Miso paste? What is it??

This Asian vegan healthy salad is served with delicious Miso dressing. Do you like Miso? Maybe you have never cooked with Miso before. Basically, It’s fermented salty paste with a distinguishing umami taste. The Umami flavour can be found in most Japanese and other Asian-style dishes.

Read this article if you want to find out more information about Miso paste, how to cook with it, prepare it, varieties and many more.

Miso paste is usually sold in Asian stores. You normally find white and dark Miso paste. For this recipe, we will use white (or light, yellow) Miso paste.

The mix of vegetables in this recipe, together with crispy fried tofu and Miso dressing gives you a perfect healthy, balanced, light lunch.

What do you need for the Asian salad with fried tofu?

• block of hard tofu. I personally prefer using a tofu press and you should use it too! A tofu press is an amazing gadget that shouldn’t be missed in your kitchen. You should use a tofu press every time you cook with tofu. A tofu press helps get rid of any excess liquid in tofu. If you like tofu or want to try more recipes with tofu, you should definitely check out this Vegan Bibimbap With Crispy Tofu, Vegan General Tso’s Tofu (Chinese recipe), Tofu Stir-fry With Peanut Butter Sauce or Marinated Tofu Salad. This liquid in tofu is not needed and not necessary for cooking. Tofu tastes way better if you squeezed all the excess liquid out!
• kale, shredded or chopped. Make sure you remove the stems. They are not good and no fun!
• Carrot. I like my carrot chopped in sticks but you can also julienne your carrot or even use a spiralizer to make little carrot spirals!
• spring onion, also known as scallion
• red capsicum (pepper)
• avocado, diced
• white sesame seeds

What do you need for Miso dressing?

• olive oil
• light Miso paste
• rice vinegar
• tamari sauce (gluten-free soy sauce)
• sesame oil
• ginger, minced. You can also use ginger paste.
• garlic, minced. You can substitute with garlic paste.

Asian Salad With Fried Tofu

This is a delicious Asian-style salad that is made of raw mixed vegetables, fried crispy tofu and easy Miso paste dressing. It's perfect for a quick and easy lunch and it can be served as a big side dish as well. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and enjoy on sunny days as a light lunch, inspied with the Asian cuisine!

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin

Course: Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: Asian, Korean, Thai

Keyword: crispy tofu, dressing, fried tofu, glutenfree, kale, lunch, miso, miso paste, sesame seeds

Prep Time: 35 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 3 people

Calories: 482kcal

Ingredients

To make salad:

• 1 block firm (hard) tofu cubed
• 1/4 cup peanut oil
• 3 cups kale shredded, stems removed
• 2 carrots juviliened or spiralized
• 1 avocado diced
• 1 bunch spring onion (scallions) chopped
• 1 red capsicum (pepper) diced or sliced
• white sesame seeds to garnish

To make Miso dressing:

• 2 tbsp white (light, yellow) Miso paste
• 1/4 cup rice white vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp tamari sauce
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 2 tbsp olive oil preferably virgin

Instructions

• Place a block of tofu in a tofu press for 15-20 minutes or until all excess liquid is gone. Alternatively, if you don't have a tofu press, wrap a tofu block in a paper towel and place it under something heavy, for example couple of books or a blender.
• Place kale, carrots, avocado, spring onions, and capsicum in a large bowl and mix.
• In another bowl, prepare the Miso dressing by mixing all the ingredients for the dressing together. Set aside.
• Heat peanut oil in a frying pan and add tofu cubes. Fry them from each side, around 1 minute. Add fried tofu to the mix vegetables.
• Divide the salad into 2-3 bowls. Drizzle with prepared Miso dressing and stir. Sprinkle with white sesame seeds.
• Serve immediately!

Nutrition

Serving: 1person | Sodium: 821mg | Calcium: 305.1mg | Vitamin C: 77.4mg | Vitamin A: 9284IU | Sugar: 5.6g | Fiber: 7.8g | Potassium: 724mg | Calories: 482kcal | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10.7g | Saturated Fat: 6.6g | Fat: 41.7g | Protein: 14.3g | Carbohydrates: 9.8g | Iron: 3.2mg

Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @writtenbyvegan or use hashtag #writtenbyvegan or share it with your friends and family! You can also rate this recipe below! 🙂

Klara Walterova

Klara is a professional freelance writer for hire. She offers web content, blog posting, ghostwriting and copywriting. She writes for a healthy lifestyle, wellness and travel websites. She focuses on veganism and the vegan diet. When she's not writing, she develops new tasty vegan recipes, travels the world or plays with her cats. Please contact her for her online writing services on her website writtenbyvegan.com or visit her Instagram profile @writtenbyvegan.