Tackling Tofu: Bun Noodle Salad Bowl with Salt and Pepper Tofu

Tofu.

Yep, you heard me right. I tackled tofu.

See, I didn’t grow up eating tofu and cooking it has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Who am I kidding? I’ve always been INTIMIDATED by tofu. What if it sticks? What if it has NO taste whatsoever? What if it doesn’t get golden brown because I was too impatient during the “draining” and “pressing” process. Seriously, all of these questions created some major tofu insecurities, but I am here to tell you that I conquered my tofu fears.

The trick? First, I needed some inspiration, which I found over lunch at Pho Que Huong on Greensprings. I got a noodle bowl full of fresh veggies, golden brown tofu squares, and a delicious fish sauce. It was crunchy, filling, and full of flavor. With that inspiration in mind, I started looking for ways to recreate that dish at home.

That’s when I found this recipe: Bun Rice Noodle Salad Bowl on Viet World Kitchen.

But first I had to figure out how to infuse the tofu with flavor. That’s when I found this recipe: “How to Make Tofu Really Freaking Delicious” on Herbivoracious.

So off I went. I followed the Herbivoracious advice and soaked the tofu in salt water. Then I did exactly what they said (drained well, etc).  Here are my tofu cubes soaking away:

After I drained the tofu for an hour (I used the handy cast iron skillet trick), I sauteed them. In fact, I used the Salt and Pepper Tofu recipe on Viet World Kitchen.

Here’s what it looked like:

Once I soaked my tofu, drained my tofu, and sauteed my tofu…I was ready to create my own Bun Rice Noodle Salad Bowl.

First, I combined lots of veggies: English cucumber, sweet red peppers, cabbage, shredded carrots, cilantro:

Then I cooked some rice noodles and threw them in the pan with the salt and pepper tofu to soak up the pan juices for extra flavor:

And then I just combined all of it together and drizzled with Vietnamese nuoc cham dipping sauce (think lime, sugar, fish sauce, water, chiles, and garlic). You can find the recipe HERE.

It was super delicious. So delicious that I bought two more blocks of tofu and will be making a new recipe this week. Let’s face it: I’m a tofu champion and I hope this helps you overcome any tofu insecurities you may have had before reading this post.