Skillet-seared tofu with tomato and thai basil relish

November 8, 2013 at 11:44 pm (B plus (3.5 stars, like a lot), Deborah Madison, Summer recipes, Tofu)

Back in September I wanted to use up the last of the summer tomatoes and Derek picked this recipe to try out of Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Suppers cookbook. It’s a pretty simple pan-fried tofu recipe topped with a fresh relish made from tomatoes, lime juice, ginger, mint, basil, shallot, garlic, and soy sauce.

The recipe calls for 1 “carton” (14 ounces? 16 ounces?) tofu sliced into 6 pieces and pan-fried in 2 tsp. of olive oil, then the tofu is deglazed with soy sauce and seasoned with salt and pepper.  The recipe actually offers two different saucing options.  The first is a “miso topping” made from white miso, mirin, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, and mayonanaise. It sounded good, but since I didn’t have any mayonnaise on hand we went with the second option only, a tomato and thai basil relish.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium tomatoes, diced or a big handful of smaller ones, halved or quartered (about 2 cups)
• 1 small shallot of a few scallions, minced
• 1 small handful of Thai or Italian basil leaves
• a dozen small mint leaves, slivered
• 1 tsp. roasted peanut or sesame oil
• juice and grated zest of 1 lime
• 2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
• 1 garlic cloves, minced
• sea salt

The tofu is supposed to be topped with slivered scallions and red bell pepper strips and the relish. Derek prepared most of this recipe while I made a dish of pan-fried brussels sprouts with Indian spices. He thought it was too much work for what you got out, but I really loved the relish. The tofu was quite plain, but I loved the somewhat Italian-y combination of the basil and mint and tomatoes with the very Asian-y ginger and sesame oil and soy sauce. I especially loved the soy sauce / lime / herb mixture on top of the brussels sprouts. I need to serve brussels sprouts with lime juice and herbs more often. It was delicious!