Tofu Broccoli Salad; simple, healthy, and yes, it's delicious!

"Only bad witches are ugly..."
This is what Glinda, the pretty Good Witch of the North, said to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.
I don't think she ever realized that some bad witches can be quite beautiful.
At least Elphaba, the Bad Witch of the West, was.
She had a certain radiance that captured the winkie prince Fiyero's heart, which the pretty Glinda herself couldn't.

Last month I drove over 4 hours to Singapore with my family to watch "Wicked," the famous Broadway show. It was undoubtedly a great show and my kids just loved it.
But for some very WICKED reason, I kept thinking of "broccoli" while I was watching.
How bizarre!

It could be Elphaba's green face or the green emerald city in the land of Oz on the stage.
Or it could simply be that I'd gone mad, which happens from time to time.
Whatever the reason was, I was inspired with broccoli and happy to present it today.

Broccoli and my unfortunately squashed tofu

I never had broccoli as I was growing up in Korea, nor I have seen it until I came to U.S over 20 years ago.
Although broccoli wasn't widely available for my childhood, which some of you might think that as "lucky", you can find them very easily anywhere in Korea these days.

My first encounter to broccoli was "scary"! I thought I was eating a wicked moss ball.
After a few attempts, I began to enjoy their green beauty! I love them.., I love them to death now.

Here is one dish that you can fuse this glorious vegetable with tofu.
It is easy and delicious, not to mention of their super healthy power.
You just need to know a simple technique to bring out the true radiance of Ms. Broccoli. 


Ingredients:

1 head broccoli
4 oz firm tofu
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 green onion, chopped
2 teaspoon Korean soy sauce for soup
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
salt to taste, optional


Here is how:

Cut up the broccoli florets into small pieces.

Place broccoli and tofu in a hot steamer and steam for 2-3 minutes until the broccoli is tender yet retains their green beauty.

Tender yet green...,  hard to achieve, isn't it?

Rinse them in the cold water to stop cooking further.

Wrap tofu with fine cotton cloth (or cheese cloth) and squeeze out to remove some water.
Then, crumble your tofu.

Place them in a shallow bowl but don't combine yet.

Get these stuff. Sesame seeds, Korean soy sauce for soup, sesame oil and garlic (minced).

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of this "Korean soy sauce for soup" to tofu and the other 1 teaspoon to broccoli

Oh, don't forget to add chopped garlic and green onion, sesame oil and sesame seeds .

Start massaging around your tofu with seasoning... because you love him so much.

This step will season the bland tofu without bruising the broccoli.

Now, gently toss all together. Taste and season with salt if you need.

Done! Lovely!

Easy.

Pretty.

Delicious.

Healthy.

Vegan worthy.

Any other words I'm missing?

Need a printable recipe? Click here.