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Yin and Yang Salad with Peanut-Sesame Dressing Recipe
January 11, 2006 | by Heidi | Filed under Salad Recipes, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
The Real Food Daily Cookbook
I apparently crossed some sort of unstated line the last time I wrote about The Real Food Daily Cookbook. For the most part the readers of this site are an open-minded, adventurous bunch when it comes to experimenting with new recipes - but the Spelt Macaroni with Cashew Cheese I wrote about kicked off a small backlash. I'm still not sure if was the use of the semi-obscure spelt pasta or the non-dairy cashew cheese, but I got the feeling from the comments and emails you sent that not a lot of you rushed out to give that recipe a try. The Real Food Daily Cookbook is a fantastic little title, and I thought I would do one more recipe from it today - one that is more of a crowd-pleaser, and more indicative of the type of recipe you will find in the book on the whole - Yin and Yang Salad with Peanut-Sesame Dressing.
The book is a good find for those of you pledging to integrate more vegetables, grains, and whole foods into your diet this year. Some of the recipes require advance preparation (marinating or special shopping trips for semi-obscure ingredients), but for the most part, with just a couple exceptions, the ingredient lists for the recipes are manageable (particularly for a restaurant-inspired cookbook) and the recipes the book delivers are delicious and flavorful. All the recipes are vegetarian - the kind of hearty, satisfying vegetarian-type fare that makes non-vegetarians forget they aren't eating meat.
I picked the Ying Yang Salad for lunch today. It's easy to make the peanut sauce and marinated ginger tofu ahead of time. You can throw the rest of the salad together in minutes. If you aren't a huge cabbage fan, substitute soba noodles or do 1/2 soba-1/2 mixed cabbage. I've tackled many spicy peanut dressings in the past, and this is one of the best. Ann uses maple syrup as the sweetener and it plays beautifully off the toasted sesame oil and natural peanut butter.
Still on my list to try: The Real Food Daily Tortilla Soup, Caeser Salad with Blackened Tempeh, Five-spice Carrot Cashew Butter, and the Coconut Cream Pie.
Yin and Yang Salad with Peanut-Sesame Dressing
Ann's head notes The name of this salad is an homage to the ancient Chinese philosophy that all things in the universe contain elements of both yin and yang. Within each is the seed of the other, and when yin and yang work in harmony, all is good in the world. All is good in this salad, too. The crunchiness of the vegetables is the perfect counterpoint to the rich and creamy peanut dressing.
4 cups shredded napa cabbage
3 cups shredded red cabbage
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
1 (2 1/2-inch) piece daikon radish, peeled and julienned
10 green onions (white and green parts), julienned
1 cup Peanut-Sesame Dressing (recipe follows)
4 cups 1/2-inch cubes chilled ginger tofu (recipe follows)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Toss the cabbage, carrots, radish, and green onions in a large bowl with enough dressing to coat. Mound the salad into 4 wide, shallow bowls or onto plates. Arrange the tofu around the salad. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve.
Serves 4.
Peanut-Sesame Dressing
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup brown rice vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves
Ann's header notes: If you'd like a spicier dressing, just add more crushed red pepper flakes. This thickens up once it's refrigerated, so you can either add a little water to thin it or leave it thick to use as a sauce on grains and other cooked dishes.
Blend the peanut butter, vinegar, maple syrup, water, tamari, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and crushed red pepper in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Add the cilantro and blend just until it's finely chopped The dressing will keep for 2 days, covered and refrigerated.
Makes abaut 1 1/4 cups.
Gingered Tofu
Ann's headnotes: This basic tofu recipe is versatile and easy to make. It's important to drain the liquid from the tofu before marinating, so give yourself enough time to properly prepare.
2 (12-ounce) containers water-packed extra-flrm tofu
2/3 cup tamari
1/4 cup brown rice vinegar
1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
I tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
I tablespoon canola oil
Drain the tofu and save the containers. Cut into 1-inch wide strips, and pat dry with paper towels. Cover a large baking sheet with more dry paper towels. Place Ihe tofu in a single layer over the towels on the baking sheet and let drain for 2 hours, changing the paper towels after 1 hour.
Whisk the tamari, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger in a bowl to blend. Pour half of the marinade into the reserved tofu containers. Return the tofu slices to the containers, and pour the remaining marinade over. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.
Preheat the oven to 400'F. Oil a heavy, rimmcd baking sheet with the canola oil. Drain the tofu and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes on each side until golden brown and heated through. Serve warm or cold, or at room temperature. The tofu will keep for 1 day, covered and refrigerated.
Serves 4 to 6.
From the Real Food Daily Cookbook - reprinted with permission.
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Your Comments
Sarah said:I am definitely going to give this a try, with one minor change; almonds instead of peanuts.
The carrot cashew butter sounds really good. I think I will have to pick up this cookbook. :)
Well I for one am allergic to flours other than spelt and I am also allergic to dairy. So...finding a recipe for anything with those restrictions is great!! Thank you... ohhh and it is impossible to make everyone happy... best to think of it as "water on a ducks back".
Sincerely,
Anna Wolden
How about some positive backlash? I prepared the Mac and Cheese as a direct result of the posting. I made it not once, but twice, and there is a wedge of more cashew cheese in the freezer waiting for another encore! My husband and I found that reheated leftovers of the dish tasted even better the second day. Thanks for opening up my eyes to making nut cheeses at home. I checked out the RFD cookbook from the library and am making my way through the recipes, too. Keep pushing the limits!
I wasn't scared away by the cashew mac & cheese but it's not something I can see myself making in the short term ;)
Thanks for the new recipes, though--I'm especially excited to try your peanut dressing as I still haven't worked out my own "keeper" of a recipe for that. And living in New Hampshire, the inclusion of maple syrup is a great thing.
Totally off-topic ... but I babysit boys whose mother uses spelt flour and brown rice to make something they call mookie (sp?)
They're basically rice patties baked in a thin layer of olive oil. There are a couple of other basic things she adds to the mixture, which makes it pasty/sticky and she then makes the patties and makes them about 45 minutes.
I think they'd be great with soups - or good snacks with cinnamon and raisins/cranberries/nuts added.
I can't find a recipe or a true spelling of it - any ideas? (Since we're on the spelt-flour kick.)
Joel said:please forgive my ignorance, but how or where do you prepare or purchase toasted sesame seed oil?
Robert Ashley said:I was one of the folks who thought the cashew mac was not so appealing (mainly cause I'm a dairy lover), but I hope I didn't come off like a jerk. This recipe looks really awesome. Love your site. Robert.
Hi Heidi,
I found your spelt pasta-cashew cheese resipe very interesting and thought it would be fun to give that a try, specially the nut butter part (I myself love experimenting with various food ingredients/combinations that are new to me!). This salad seems a bit like an Indonesian salad called gado gado, which I love. Thanks as always for inspirations!
This does sound delicious. I love cabbage, so I am always looking for new recipes which use it. I admit, I have not cooked with tofu much, but I've been thinking recently I should be using it more. Thanks for the recipe.
This recipe sounds delicious but because of my sister in laws allergy to peanuts and nuts (yes, she's been tested and is allergic to both groups) we don't keep peanuts or its products in the house.
My question is...do you think tahini could be easily substituted for the peanuts in the dressing for this???
Jackie in CT
kevin said:I didn't speak up at the time of the mac&cashew cheese post, but obviously I should have. I've tried a number of nut cheeses that are very good--and I love dairy cheeses. Thanks Heidi for putting something out there that obviously challenged people's boundaries! That's what inspires us to growth.
Joel: toasted sesame oil can be found at asian specialty stores and natural food stores. In any urban centre, regular supermarkets should carry it, too. It isn't cheap, but you don't need much. Think of it more as a flavouring than an oil. Regular (untoasted) sesame oil is not a replacement.
In regards to the "mookie". It is spelled Mochi and is a japanese sticky rice cake.
Here is a webiste with a recipe. The ingredients are simple.
http://japanesefood.about.com/library/weekly/aa011303a.htm
This looks great. Thanks for sharing , i will try this asap.
i agree with the others...keep pushing the limits! you have really opened my eyes to a lot of new things. :)
That looks so good. Peanut dressing/sauce is my favorite. I'll put it on just about anything. Am excited to try this recipe out-thanks!
I just love salads . So does my mom. I did this recipe yesterday. Mother asked me where I got this recipe from. I told her about your blog. Apparently, she'll be checking your blog. That's saying much since my mom's not really into computers. Thanks for posting your recipes. We'll try the rest of the food you've posted on the days to follow.
said:Dumb question, but when it says "bake for 10 minutes on each side" - how many of the 6 sides on those cubes do you mean? I'd guess 2 (top and bottom) but it looks so evenly browned that I doubt myself...
its nice to see that there is woman aout there whome still care about cooking, cause nower days many people just wants to go to a restaurant. Keep it up ladies wbiggy@gmail.com
said:VERY INSPIRING
Joel, for this recipe I used the Eden Organics brand of toasted sesame oil - look in the interenational aisle of your supermarket, or in the organic section if they have one, or go to a health-food store - it is pretty easy to find. For this type of recipe, and if you want that signature sesame oil flavor, shoot for a darker colored oil that is very fragrant. http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_2.cfm?wordid=2814
Jackie, re: the tahini substitution...I think it could possibly work, but you might have to tweak some of the other components of the recipe as well. Report back if you try it and come up with something delicious.
Re: how many sides to bake. I did two, for ten minutes each- top and bottom.
Robert Ashley, don't sweat it ;) I'm happy to hear it all. I'm constantly surprised on this site which recipes are the best recieved and most popular over time. I like the feedback.
-h
As a vegetarian, I love recipes that incorporate more fresh veggies and healthiness into my menu.
I thought both these and the spelt recipe were fantastic. Keep up the great work.
This recipe sounds fantastic. I just happened to have most of the dressing ingredients out to make a tri-colored slaw, but after reading this, will be using maple syrup instead.
Thanks for the amazing recipes, this site is a great way to "road-test" a cookbook without first buying it, only to discover that it is not what one really wants.
BTW, I FINALLY got my yogurt maker and plan to use Wayne's tips very soon. Have you tried any recipes from The Book of Yogurt by Sonia Uvezian? I purchased that through Amazon with the maker and am looking forward to trying some out.
Have a great weekend! ;~)
Heidi-this is PHENOMENAL, easily one of the best dressings I have ever tasted! Cannot wait to try it with soba noodles. Thanks so much for a great site.
Thanks all, for those of you who like this salad, you should give the Otsu a spin as well: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000110.html
Yummm... this salad looks really appetizing. I'll try this one for sure! I guess it's safe to say that it will go well with some seafood. Can't wait for the weekends so I can give this recipe a try. Thanks for sharing!
I just found your site,I think your gonna be my new best friend.
Thanks
I checked out the RFD Cookbook from the library the same week you posted the macaroni and cashew cheese recipe. Freakier still, I made the gingered tofu the day before you posted THAT recipe! I love the book because of it's emphasis on fresh, local, seasonal eating. And Heidi, I too have the coconut cream pie on my list of recipes to try - trying to hold out until March so I can have it on my birthday. I really enjoy your postings - thanks for such a wonderful site.
Just made this recipe for my husband and sister- and brother-in-law. Everyone loved it. It was delicious...I will definitely make it again!
I was recently in LA were the real food daily resturant is located. When I got home I regereted not buying the cookbook because of the ying yang. (I just ordered it on amazon) either way this is my brother's (a local californian) favorite his usual at the resturant. When we go it does not come out as above though, my brother has expanded on it by adding armane, edamame and blackened tofu - the blackened tofu is also in their cookbook. When it comes out, it is like a mountain of wonderfulness that we eat with soft flat bread
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