This recipe is a celebration of all things Spring and I love it! To be honest, it still doesn’t fully even feel like Spring in the city quit yet, we keep swinging from 60 degrees back to 40 and almost all days covered in clouds, rain and gloom. That being said, this recipe is anything but gloomy! It’s full of bright beautifully covered vegetables, a bold spicy peanut sauce, and a perfectly sweet and savory lemongrass marinaded tofu. It is also served cold which makes it awesome for leftovers!
So this recipe has actually evolved multiple times from when I first attempted to make it. The first time was an attempt to make fresh Spring Rolls like what you get at Vietnamese restaurants. So two problems with that that I felt wasn’t in line with my brand and what we’re trying to accomplish in the Almost Like Mom’s kitchen.
The first is they were not easy to make. If you’ve ever picked up a packet of those spring roll wrapped and see that they look like hard plastic, and have thought to yourself, how do they soften this and wrap it?? The answer is, very carefully and honestly not worth it. The second issue is they go bad almost instantly, it was very difficult to keep the ingredients looking fresh and the rolls themselves got soggy after about a day.
While I often like taking on food challenges, I try to stay away from doing recipes that are not accessible and will leave you frustrated and I really try to stay away from recipes where you cannot have leftovers. So I scrapped the whole spring rolls idea. But, I loved everything about the flavor combination of what I had put together, so I decided to evolve it into a noodle dish and the Spring Vegetable Soba Bowls were born.
If you’ve never bought Soba noodles, you’re in for a treat. You can find them in the ethnic isle of the grocery store, I try to buy ones that are 100% buckwheat but they’re pricier so feel free to get the ones that are mixed with wheat. These noodles are I think probably my favorite noodle on their own, but they are truly beautiful and delicious tossed with fresh veggies and marinaded tofu.
What I recommended for this recipe is to make the tofu, sauce and noodles separate and then you can use it for lunches all week by adding on the sliced veggies toppings before eating or in the morning.
Lots of Love,
Jackie
- Tofu Marinade
- 1 block extra firm tofu, cut into strips
- 2 lemongrass stalks, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- ¼ cup soy sauce or tamari
- 2 scallions, minced
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Noodles
- 1 bunch soba noodles, cooked according to package directions
- 1 bunch asparagus, cut into thirds
- 1 bunch radishes, sliced
- 4 avocados, sliced
- 3 carrots, ribboned
- Fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
- Peanut Butter Sauce
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp chili paste
- juice of 1 lime
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 3 scallions, sliced
- ½ cup water, more if necessary to thin
- Whisk all the ingredients together for the tofu marinade. Toss the tofu strips into the marinade and set aside for 30 minutes. While the tofu marinades preheat your over to 400 degrees and cook the soba noodles.
- In a separate pot from the noodles, bring more water to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the asparagus and cook for 4 minutes until it is just cooked. It should still be crunchy. Set the cooked asparagus aside while you prepare and chop the remaining vegetables.
- When the tofu is done marinading, place it onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
- Make the peanut sauce by placing all the ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until creamy.
- Assemble the bowls by placing the noodles on the bottom, top with all the veggies, the cooked tofu and drizzle with the peanut sauce. Top with fresh cilantro if using. If you're using these as a lunch and want leftovers, keep the veggies separate from the noodles until serving or preparing.
