Tomato Basil Salad with Crispy Tofu

A super easy recipe for an extra light spring or summer salad. Crispy baked tofu is so good in this!

As the weather gets warmer, a lot of us crave salad (i know I do). I’ve been loving the combination of tomato, basil, and red onion for a long time, and I thought it was about time I had a simple salad recipe on here featuring all three ingredients.

This tomato basil salad is really easy to put together. Although I’ve fried my share of tofu, I opted to keep this recipe on the lighter side and bake it instead. If you’ve never baked tofu, I promise it’s really easy and tastes crispy and light and not boring so don’t listen to those people who say that.

INGREDIENTS

Exact amounts are in the recipe at the end of this post.

As with all salads, feel free to experiment. It’s not like baking where everything has to be exact. Keep it casual!

This is what I recommend for one hearty serving – in my opinion, enough for a lunchtime meal – but of course add or substitute anything you want.

Feel free to scroll down for instructions, but here’s a bit about some of the key ingredients.

TOMATO

Vine tomatoes are my favorite tomato for salads. Often called vine-ripened tomatoes or “tomatoes on the vine,” these typically have 4-6 tomatoes all connected on one vine. Most supermarkets will sell a few different tomato varieties – typically you’ll see plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, beefsteak. Vine tomatoes can be slightly more expensive (the lowest price I see in for them NYC is $1.99/lb and the highest is probably $4.99/lb). If you’re curious, here’s more about different types of tomatoes.

BASIL

While dried basil found in the spice aisle can be great in some dishes, if you can, I recommend buying (or growing!) fresh basil for this salad. There are many different varieties of basil, but the kind typically sold in supermarkets is sweet basil. (Hint: try not to buy basil with dark spots.) There’s a Korean supermarket in my neighborhood that sells Thai basil, and while I love that in cooked dishes, sweet basil is perfect for salads.

TOFU

If you’re familiar with tofu then you know that this too comes in many different varieties. I always use extra firm tofu for cooking. While tofu can be sold dry, I buy the kind stored in water. This will involve pressing the tofu and I’ll explain that below.

TAMARI

This will coat the tofu before baking. Tamari and soy sauce are sometimes confused. While they are both made from fermented soybeans, tamari typically doesn’t contain wheat. There are a few other differences between the two, but I would recommend not worrying too much about it and use one or the other depending on what you have and what you prefer.

INSTRUCTIONS

Additional instructions are in the recipe at the end of this post

If you buy dry tofu, usually sold in airtight packaging, then you can skip this whole section on pressing the tofu. Otherwise, keep reading!

Most tofu is sold in water, and whatever you don’t use immediately upon opening needs to be stored in water. Since liquid slows down the cooking process, you want to get as much of the water out of the tofu as possible before putting it in the oven or on the stove.

You can use a tofu press or do it the old-fashioned way: with some cloth and books.

PRESSING THE TOFU

I recommend pressing the tofu for about 30 minutes, although you can get away with less. I would do this step first, and then while it’s being pressed you can chop up all of the other ingredients for the salad.

These instructions are for what I would consider one serving of tofu.

The package will probably say that it contains 4 servings. I never think one quarter of a block is enough. One third of a 16-ounce block seems like a good single serving to me.

If you want more, then just use more of the tofu.

1. Start with extra firm tofu.
2. Remove the block from the package and slice it into thirds.
3. You’ll only use one third, and store the remaining two thirds in a container filled with water in the fridge.
4. Slice the one third for the recipe lengthwise into three slabs.
5. Lay a paper towel on a clean dish cloth.
6. Place each slab of tofu on the paper towel.
7. Cover the tofu with the paper towel and cloth.
8. Fold the cloth over.

What is not pictured is as follows:

Place a cutting board on top of the wrapped tofu. On top of that, place one or two heavy books (i.e. cook books you never look at). Set this aside for about 30 minutes.

ASSEMBLING THE SALAD

You can do this while the tofu is being pressed.

How you chop the tomato, cucumber, and onion is up to you. I prefer to chop my produce into bite-sized pieces, but not too small.

I also like to peel the skin off my cucumbers because the ones from the supermarket are so waxy. If you are lucky enough to grow your own cucumbers, then you will likely not have this issue.

If you’re using chick peas from a can, they will be covered with very thin skin. This is completely fine to leave on. I usually peel mine off if I have the time (mostly because it’s fun?!) but don’t worry about doing this step if you don’t mind a tiny bit of chick pea skin.

COATING & BAKING THE TOFU

You could throw the raw tofu cubes in the oven and it’ll come out fine. But taking a minute to do this step really makes a difference: the olive oil and cornstarch help the tofu bake up nice and crisp, and the tamari gives it a hint of flavor without being overwhelming.

1. Pour 1 teaspoon each of olive oil and tamari into a small bowl.
2. Add the tofu cubes and mix gently.
3. Add 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch.
4. Gently mix until evenly coated.

Place the coated tofu cubes into a baking sheet. I usually recommend parchment paper to make flipping and removing them easier, but I forgot for this photo. It’s fine.

Bake at 400ºF for 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through.

Let the tofu cool for about 5 minutes, and then add to the salad.

I hope to have salad dressings on this blog soon. In the meantime, keep it simple by using your favorite dressing or use this simple recipe:

• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)

Once you get used to pressing tofu and baking it this way, it makes a huge difference. You’ll start to realize that you can get other things prepared while it’s pressing and cooking – including, maybe, if you’re lucky, cleaning the dishes so you don’t have to later!

I’ll add the cost breakdown soon, I just want to get this recipe post up because it’s been a while since my last one. Happy salad season!