Herby zucchini soba salad with peanut tofu

This herby zucchini soba salad with peanut tofu is a recipe I’ve had in my pocket for ages. It’s on the menu almost weekly in some variation: sometimes paired with this miso grilled salmon in place of tofu, sometimes with gojuchang in place of the chilli and garlic in the dressing, with chunks of fresh mango or creamy roasted eggplant in summer, with whatever herbs and greens are lingering in the fridge and nuts in the pantry. The zucchini bulks up the noodles and seems to help prevent that frustrating situation of clump soba noodles, and the dressing is a nutty, salty mix of tahini, miso, lime and ginger.

It’s also much more representative of my day to day cooking than the highlight reel of elaborate pastry and cake over on my instagram feed. Don’t get me wrong, my sweet tooth hasn’t gone anywhere – but on busy weeknights, this is the sort of food I turn to. Mostly plant-based, quick and highly left-over friendly. (I know the ingredient list might seem long, but you probably have most of the dressing components already). There are many more cakes on the way, but I would be interested to know which sorts of recipes you come to this blog for and what you’d prefer – continuing the mix of both? More easy weeknight dinners? Or simply the celebration cakes and gooey brownies?

Peanut tofu has in itself been a minor revelation. I didn’t grow up eating tofu so always saw it as some strange bland entity to be treated with suspicion. I mean, the bland bit was partially correct, but it is very versatile, holds onto whatever flavours you marinate it in and is an easy source of plant based protein. Here it’s important to use firm tofu so it fries rather than crumbling up in the pan. It’s first marinated in chilli, garlic and soy while you prepare the rest of the salad, then panfried until golden and tossed in a lime-peanut sauce. If you’re a tofu hater, give it a chance to change your mind!