Tofu Or Not Tofu, That Is The Question

In anticipation of an artery-busting choc-fest of a dessert that I will share with you soon, I thought that I should attempt to cancel out the calories contained therein with another salad recipe. That works, right? Like the way chocolate consumed on a Friday (because it's Friday) and cheese eaten on holidays (because you're on holidays) have no calories? Anyhow, there is no more surefire way to make you feel as though you deserve to engage in some hardcore calorie consumption than tucking into the Substance Of Virtue that is tofu. 

I don't understand how people manage to have very strong feelings towards tofu. I find it to be a fairly innocuous little piece of nutrition. Admittedly, it looks about as enticing as a lump of wet cotton wool, but really it tastes perfectly pleasant. 

It's what you do with tofu that counts, y'see, and Sophie Dahl has notions about pairing it with turmeric and popping it on top of a salad. I'm game for that. I'll even graciously accept that my criticisms of Sophie are particularly churlish in light of the fact that I use her cookbook at least twice a week now, and there will be no more Sophie-related rants on this blog. Unless she does another tv show like the last one. ARGH, see, I can't help it!!! On with the tofu! Or: turmeric tofu with cherry tomato quinoa pilaf, to be precise.

Turmeric: discuss. As in - all of those amazing properties it is said to have...do we really think that it can impart such wondrousness? I mean, it's even said to be effective in staving off Alzheimer's and cancer. Hmmm. There are some thoroughly lofty claims floating around out there in relation to the spice, and I would be dubious about taking all of them on board. It's an essential in many Indian recipes anyhow, and I just love Indian food, so I presume it's not doing anything bad in any case! For this salad, the tofu gets a good dose of turmeric, and goes on the pan for about ten minutes, turning it a lovely golden colour - far more appetising than that watery white colour it starts out as.

You'll also need a cup of quinoa - cooked, obviously!

In this salad, the bright, colouredy bits come courtesy of spring onions, tomatoes, parsley and coriander.

Further evidence of my laziness, as if any were needed - I actually made the salad dressing in the creme fraiche tub. Ahem. Well it made sense to me! Creme fraiche, the zest and juice of a lemon and some black pepper.

Combine, assemble, enjoy, bask in virtue.