Japanese Lunchbox

This is a delicious, healthy, easy-to-make salad. I generally don't enjoy rice - but it really makes this salad. I found this recipe in the Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health cookbook - which my mom gave to me a few years ago, but I have barely every used. I just opened it the other day and realized how great it is! There are a ton of great vegetarian recipes - and all are very healthy. (I'll be posting a fruit and nut truffle recipe soon...even the desserts are healthy!) I've made this salad twice in the past two weeks - it makes quite a lot of food, but is very light and has about 4 meal-sized servings.

Japanese Lunchbox Salad

Lemon Ginger Dressing:
2 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tablespoon grated peeled ginger root
1 garlic clove, minced

Salad:
4 cups loosely packed salad greens, baby spinach, or frisee
2 cups cooked brown rice
16 ounces seasoned tofu, sliced or cubed
1 cup carrot matchsticks
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 ripe hass avocado
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds or flaxseeds

1. In a blender, whirl all of the dressing ingredients until smooth.
2. On a large platter or on individual serving plates, spread out the greens and mount the rice in the center. Arrange the tofu, carrots, and tomatoes on the greens and rice.
3. Just before serving, slice around the avocado lengthwise, twist the halves apart, and remove the pit. Cut the flesh into thin slices right in the skin, scoop the slices out with a serving spoon, and place them on the salad. Drizzle the dressing on the salad. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

[NOTE: I just cut the avocado into chunks, and mixed everything together in a bowl, including the dressing. No need to get fancy! I also didn't use sesame seeds or flaxseeds, as I didn't have them on hand.]

For the tofu, the cookbook suggests a few ways to prepare it, or you can buy it prepared from a grocery store. I used the following recipe, which was really easy and delicious!

An Easy Baked Tofu

1 cake of extra-firm tofu
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup

Cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes and place in an unoiled baking dish large enough to hold a single layer. Stir together the sesame oil, soy sauce, and ketchup and drizzle over the tofu. With a rubber spatula, gently turn to coat thoroughly. In a 400 degree oven, bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the tofu is browned, firm, and chewy.

[NOTE: The first time I cooked the tofu, there was a lot of extra sauce on the pan, and it burned (not a huge deal, but it did burn the cookie sheet I was using). The second time, I combined the tofu and sauce in a bowl before putting it on the pan, and used aluminum foil over the cookie sheet. This worked much better - the sauce still burned a little bit, but didn't burn the pan!]