Thai peanut "noodle" salad (spaghetti squash pot luck)

Salad

• 1 block extra firm tofu  (or use this tofu recipe)
• 1 spaghetti squash (or you can make this with actual rice noodles – cook according to package)
• 3-4C chopped green-ness: napa cabbage preferred (mostly the frilly part, reserving most of the white stumps), or green cabbage, or lettuce (lettuce only if you are sure there will not be leftovers because it will die in the fridge)
• 1C shredded or super-fine-sliced purple cabbage
• 1C shredded carrot
• 1C diced red and green bell pepper (add poblano to the mix to spice-it-up)
• 2-4 of the following finely chopped: green onion, cilantro, basil, mint
• 1/2 C  roasted salted peanuts

Dressing Ingredients (substitutes in parenthesis)

I mix this in a small mason jar that fits on my blender.  Taste and tweak along the way, add a drizzle of water if it gets too thick to blend, and if you end up with too much, it keeps fine and is awesome on spring rolls.

• 1/2C cheap creamy peanut butter (if using hippy stuff, bump up the sweet ingredients 1 T more)
• 3T acid: 1T lime juice + 2T rice wine vinegar (or any vinegar, lemon juice, etc.)
• 3T ginger syrup + mirin (or brown sugar, agave, honey, etc.) 
• 3T raw coconut aminos (or braggs, tamari, soy sauce, plain salt, etc.)
• some Sriracha if you want – but I don’t often, and if I did I might use chili jam instead

Optional but great (use fresh if making in the blender, or powdered/dried if mixing with a spoon)

• Cilantro - I use the top half of the cilantro stems
• Ginger – fresh or powdered, if not using ginger syrup
• Garlic – fresh or powdered

The cooking part  (can be done the day before)

Set oven to 350F

Dice the block of tofu (I get 24 cubes from a 12oz Westsoy extra firm)

Toss tofu in tamari or in salt, pepper, and something spicy.  Spread on a baking sheet (if not non-stick, parchment paper or a silpat mat might be wise)

Tofu should bake 45 min

Cut a spaghetti squash in half the long way, and scoop out the membranes and seeds

Brush the flesh with oil (olive, sesame, sunflower), place cut-side-down on a baking sheet

Bake 30 minutes or until a knife slides easily through the peel into the squash

Use a fork to scrape the strands of squash from the shell, and let cool to room temp or cold.   I’m usually behind enough that I have to spread it in a shallow dish and flash chill in the freezer.

Assembly

Toss the raw veggies together with the herbs and enough dressing to coat thickly,

Carefully mix the above into the spaghetti squash until thoroughly incorporated, taste and add more dressing if needed

Add peanuts and tofu cubes, and give it a half-toss so most stay on top

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