Mango Cilantro Salad with Coconut Lime Tofu

The sun overcame the fog for a couple of hours today, which always inspires me to make something summery. This is a combination of a few different Vietnamese and Thai recipes. I wanted the mango/peanut/cilantro combination without a thick, heavy peanut sauce. The result was a nice, light dinner, which we paired with some rustic bread and a 2009 Miner Mendocino Rosato. Make the tofu and dressing ahead of time and toss everything together last minute. If you don't know how to slice a mango, it can be extremely frustrating, so here's a quick how-to: video.

Coconut Lime Tofu:

2 Tablespoons water

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons coconut milk (look for the tiny cans)

Juice of 1 lime

1 pound firm tofu

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Mix the water, soy sauce, coconut milk and lime juice in a bowl. Cut the tofu into 1/4" strips and dip into sauce before arranging on the baking sheet. Bake for 30 min. until golden.

For the dressing:

Juice of 1 lime

1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon infused chili oil (or 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1 pinch red chili flakes)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon minced ginger

1 teaspoon minced red onion or shallot

1 Tablespoon agave nectar (or substitute organic cane sugar to taste)

Mix ingredients together.

For the salad:

4 cups chopped romaine

1 cup mung bean sprouts

1 cup chopped cucumber (peeled and seeded)

1 cup diced mango (1 large or 2 small mangos)

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

1 chopped avocado (optional)

Cut the tofu into bite sized pieces and toss together with the above ingredients. Dress to taste.

Serves 4

Vegan