This is also a great recipe to whip up between the chaos and over consumption of the festive season when you want to balance things back out again.
I’ve been making this salad a lot lately. The warmer summer months in Australia means salads are on high rotation. But not just any salad, they need to be substantial enough to become a meal and not over fussed or time consuming!
Enter this beauty! Gochujang is making a big mainstream splash and for good reason! Its umami rich spicy is totally addictive and worth having in your pantry for stir fries, dressings, marinades, broths, soups or to stir through softened butters to melt over steaks, chicken, seafood or cook your scrambled eggs in or mayo for smearing onto a sandwich, grilled corn or to dip fresh cooked prawns in! Making a bolognaise or ragu and want to add something different, pop in a spoon of gochujang and thank me later!
This glaze recipe is one to have on hand as well. It doubles as a dressing or marinade and perfect for spooning over veggies after roasting, onto a whole grilled fish or using for a noodle salad. Its uses are endless!
Serves 4
Prep time 30 minutes | Cook time 6 minutes
Ingredients
Gochujang glaze
¼ cup gochujang
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp soy
2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds + 1 tbsp extra to serve
2 tbsp olive oil
400g firm tofu, cut into 1cm thick pieces
¼ wombok, finely sliced
2 medium zucchini, julienne
2 carrots, julienne
3 shallots (scallions) finely sliced
Large handful coriander, roughly chopped
¼ cup tahini
Steamed rice to serve
Method
Combine the gochujang glaze ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and add the olive oil and tofu. Cook the tofu for 2 minutes, until golden then flip and cook for 30 seconds more before turning off the heat and adding 1/3 of the glaze to the pan, gently tossing the tofu through it to cover and glaze. Set aside in the pan.
Combine the wombok, zucchini, carrot, 2.3 of the shallots and all the coriander in a shallow serving bowl. Add half the remaining dressing and toss well to combine.
Top the salad with the glazed tofu, spoon over remaining dressing, shallots, sesame seeds and spoon over the tahini.
Serve with steamed rice if desired.
An ode to gochujang!