I’m going through a love affair with tofu. I know it’s not the best for my body being oh-so-chock full of soy, but tofu is one of my guilty pleasures. If eating tofu a few times a week is one of the worst things my body is ingesting then I guess it’s not that bad! I could actually be addicted to MSG-filled Orange Chicken from Panda Express!
Okay so I may be addicted to pretty-damn-not-so-bad-for-ya-tofu but I’ve also been bu
ying a lot of Velvetta cheese. Yes, I said, Velvetta cheese. Feel free to cancel me as a food blogger! I came across a keto recipe for Queso Dip that has a secret oh-so-processed ingredient in it and now I’m embarrassed to run into anyone I know at the local market! But when I’m not buying GMO Cheese, you could find me either snowshoeing in April in the very last of the winter whiteness or possibly shoving a tofu salad at my face.
Confession time, Tofu is the problem
I’m forty-three years old and I just learned how to cook delicious tofu! Homecooked tofu is not an easy dish to master. You need two appliances to become a tofu master; You need an air fryer and you need a tofu press. How did no one ever tell me this? maybe I was just too busy snowshoeing up mountains to tackle being a tofu master until now!
It’s finally starting t
o feel like springtime here in our mountain town at over six thousand feet. Yes, that means snowshoeing in shorts. It could also mean having more salads for lunch and dinner. Yes, I do get tired of my favorite Curried Chicken Salad and Korean Steakhouse Salad. So I am always on the lookout for a new delicious salad. This one hit the spot and is chock full of high-fiber veggies like cabbage.
I like to serve this Air Fryer Orange Tofu as a Salad, but this Air Fryer Ginger Tofu is also fantastic just stir-fried with your favorite Asian veggies.
Air Fryer Orange Ginger Tofu Slaw Salad
1 package of extra firm tofu, drained for at least half an hour in your tofu press
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1teaspoon white pepper
3 teaspoons potato starch
Coconut oil or avocado oil spray
Mix the dry ingredients and toss the tofu in it until you are ready to put it in the air fryer. When ready to air-fry, spray your tofu wit the cooking spray oil. Air-fry at 375 for twelve minutes, stopping to shake halfway through and respray with the oil again.
Ginger Orange Sauce
1 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
1 red chile, chopped
10 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon potato starch
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon olive oil
In the olive oil fry the chile a few minutes. Add in the garlic and the ginger until cooked. Set aside while you zest the oranges. Combine the OJ, garlic sauce, rice vinegar, and orange zest. sesame oil and rice wine vinegar in a Nutri-bullet. Grind up well. Return this to the stovetop. Add your potato starch to the Nutri-bullet along with two teaspoons of water, cover and shake well to get all the last bits of your sauce and using a spatula add this to your orange sauce on the stove. Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer, stirring every once in a while. Let this simmer and thicken for 20 minutes while your tofu cooks in the air-fryer.
Air Fryer Orange Tofu salad
Wasabi vinaigrette
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon wasabi paste or powder
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon pink Himalayan sea salt
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon Swerve sweetener
In your Nutri-bullet mix the sesame oil, wasabi, rice wine vinegar, salt, grated ginger and Swerve. When you are ready to build your salad, mix this vinaigrette with your frissee, cabbages, and radishes. Dredge your tofu cubes in the orange sauce and set them on top of your salad. Garnish with pickled red onion and fresh jalapeno slices or pickled jalapeno slices. Add the Gochujang Nuts to the very top. At the very end before serving, add fresh mint leaves to the very top.
1/2 cup of frisee salad mix
3 slivered radish, sliced
2 cups sliced napa cabbage
1 cup sliced red cabbage
Candied ginger slices to garnish
Fresh jalapeno slices or candied jalapeno slices
1/8 cup fresh torn mint leaves.
