Salad w/ Tofu Steak & Tomatillo Salsa
This tofu steak salad combines lightly fried tofu with Roasted Tomatillo Salsa and Homemade Guacamole. It's incredibly filling and refreshing. Tofu steak salads are one of my favorite recipes to throw together when I'm feeling like indulging, without the guilt! If you have salsa and guacamole on hand, it also takes no time at all to make. Otherwise, roasted tomatillo salsa requires about a half hour to cook and guacamole takes just a matter of minutes in a food processor. Feel free to mix and match in your own dips and toppings of choice, though. This is a perfect recipe to utilize what you have on hand and make it your own!
Equipment
- Paper Towels
- Skillet
- Stovetop
Ingredients
Tomatillo Salsa
- 1 lbs. tomatillos
- 2 banana peppers diced
- 1/4 medium red onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1 lime juiced
- 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Guacamole
- 3 avocados
- 3 limes juiced
- 3 cloves garlic
- dash salt
- dash pepper
- 1 ½ large tomatoes quartered
- 1/4 red onion halved
Salad
- 1/3 c. tomatillo salsa
- 7 oz. extra firm tofu (~1/2 container)
- 1-2 tbsp. high heat oil
- 1/3 c. shredded lettuce
- dash salt
- dash pepper
Instructions
Prepare Salsa
- Making the Roasted Tomatillo Salsa takes about a half hour. It requires an air fryer, food processor, and about a pound of tomatillos. Although any salsa of choice works in its stead.
- In this recipe, I also added Guacamole. You can buy this in stores, but I much prefer to make it homemade! It's incredibly simple only takes a matter of minutes to prepare.
Fry Tofu
- Drain the tofu and 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, 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.
Assemble Salad
- Chop lettuce, halve cherry tomatoes, and dice banana peppers.
- Lay down a bed of lettuce and tofu. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. And top with salsa.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
- For a more in-depth article on preparing tofu, check out my article on The Fundamentals of Fried Tofu. High heat oil and a precise cooking temperature are important to keep the tofu from drying out or burning.