I've been on this kick lately where I'm not following any particular kind of recipe. I'm just looking at what's in the pantry and what produce I have on hand or growing in the garden, and just end up with a meal. So, at the risk of adding some hipster credit and calling absolutely everything that I make fusion salads? That may in fact be what I am doing here! Because I'm not entirely sure what to else call this vermicelli salad.
I was thinking about making stir fry, but I don't actually like stir fry that much. Taking nice, crisp vegetables and sautéing until they've become limp, easily digestible noodles? Aren't exactly my favorite! Not that I don't like a good slow cooked curry. So, perhaps I just am not a fan of anything in the middle? Either way, this is no-fry stir fry. Which, I suppose just makes it a salad. Perhaps that's what I have created here: Vermicelli Salad w/ Tofu & Toasted Peanuts.
How I Ended Up w/ Vermicelli Salad
Whatever moniker I end up going with, this is an absolutely delicious salad that combines vermicelli noodles, fried tofu, roasted garlic, carrots, bell peppers, ginger, tamari, rice vinegar, tahini, and sprouts. It really started with the sprouts. Every time that I buy them it's a mad dash to eat them within the very small time frame that they are actually edible! We like to think of avocados as being bad. You wait and wait and wait for them to be ripe. And then have 24 hours to consume them in their entirety or the entire endeavor is lost! So, at least with sprouts they're edible immediately. Although this is when the race begins because they only stay fresh for about 2 days. It's one of the reasons that sprouts can be incredibly difficult to find.
So, of course absolutely everything that I make in the next couple of days must contain sprouts!
The next ingredient that I was pretty sure that I was going to make was vermicelli. Now, I'm not entirely familiar with this particular product. I cook a lot with brown rice noodles in curries. Which is what I was stocking up on when I came across vermicelli. Always looking for something new and interesting to cook with? I picked up a pack of whole grain rice vermicelli noodles.
I also have just been making a lot of tofu lately. A good lightly fried tofu is absolutely delicious. It's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Giving it a great texture amongst fresh produce.
Toss in absolutely every produce I have on hand and throw in much of the ingredients from Quinoa w/ Ginger, Tofu, & Sprouts and voila! An incredibly simple, delicious, and healthy salad.
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Variations of Vermicelli Salad
This recipe certainly started my vermicelli salad kick. I have been making it endlessly ever since! And highly recommend. There are any multitude of variations that you can throw together, depending on what you have on hand or to cater to your own personal taste and culinary style.
This vermicelli salad combines fried tofu, roasted garlic, carrots, red bell peppers, ginger, tamari, rice vinegar, tahini, and sprouts. It's my new favorite recipe to make. It's much like a lighter version of a pasta salad with all of the fresh produce that I can get my hands on! That makes it a great recipe to mix and match your own favorite produce with. After all, it is a salad. You can add and subtract whatever you have on hand or to your own culinary tastes and preferences.
Add about 4 inches of water to a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
Cook vermicelli according to the manufacturer's instructions.Vermicelli cooks very quickly. I tend to add the vermicelli and then immediately remove it from heat. Then, go on to prepare the produce. Merely sitting in the once boiling water is sufficient enough soften it enough to eat without overcooking.
Fry Tofu
While the pot is boiling for the vermicelli, drain the water out of the tofu and cut into cubes.
Wrap in paper towels to absorb the moisture.It's important to absorb as much water out of the tofu as you can. Oil is less dense than water, so the molecules repel one another. With cold ingredients, this causes separation. When you're frying at high temperatures, though, this can cause boiling hot oil to spray back at you.
Meanwhile, preheat oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
When the skillet has preheated and the majority of the water has absorbed into the paper towels, carefully add the tofu to the skillet. Fry until golden brown. This should take about 2-4 minutes. Rotate until all sides are evenly fried.
Remove from heat and wrap again in paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
Toast Peanuts
With the skillet still on medium-high heat, add peanuts. I use whole, untoasted, unsalted nuts for this and have to then shell and toast my own peanuts. You can skip this step by just getting already toasted nuts or adding them in raw. Although you may want to add less tamari because this tends to be incredibly salty already and adding too much salt can be problematic!
Toast for 2-5 minutes, making sure to semi-regularly stir them in order to prevent burning.
Remove from heat, let cool enough to handle, and crush slightly to break them down into smaller pieces. I do this in my mortar and pestle. Although smacking them with the broad side of a knife like garlic does just fine. Alternatively, coarsely chopping them or serving whole works as well.
Assemble Salad
For this recipe, I already had roasted garlic in the fridge. I tend to roast a couple of heads of garlic every couple of weeks just so that I already have it when I need but. To recreate this, you follow my Roasted Garlic Recipe. It takes about an hour and requires a head of garlic, olive oil, and a garlic roaster or aluminum foil. Otherwise, use half the amount of unroasted garlic.
Mince and chop all of the produce and add to a large bowl.
It can help to mix the tamari, rice vinegar, and tahini together in a separate bowl and then mix in. Although this isn't explicitly necessary as long as the tahini doesn't clump together.
Add in tofu, sprouts, and peanuts afterwards. You can really mix the peanuts in at any time. However, sprouts go back much faster than the other ingredients, so I don't mix them in until serving and store them separately.
Serve immediately or chill in the refrigerator for about an hour. I'm quite fond of this dish at room temperature or mixed in with salmon or scrambled eggs. It keeps incredibly well in the refrigerator, though. There's enough sodium and acidity in the mix to last for about a week without the produce browning. The liquid will start to separate and just need stirring before serving again.
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