Thai Peanut Salad with Tofu

Why This Thai Peanut Salad with Tofu Works

Pressing the tofu first pushes out extra water, so the cubes can soak up the cornstarch. Once coated, the outside of the tofu dries a bit. In the hot oil, that starchy coating firms up and turns into a thin shell. As the tofu sits in the pan, the outside becomes golden and crisp while the inside stays soft. After it comes off the heat and cools slightly, that crust stays crunchy instead of going soggy on the salad.

In the bowl, the crunchy tofu and peanuts give a firm bite against the softer salad greens and cabbage. The peanut butter dressing starts out thick, but the water, soy sauce, and lime loosen it so it can slide over the vegetables and cling to them. As it sits on the salad, the dressing lightly coats each piece instead of pooling at the bottom, so every bite has some creamy peanut, bright lime, and crisp vegetables all together.

Mistakes To Avoid

Skipping the tofu pressing step leaves a lot of water inside the cubes, so the cornstarch turns gummy instead of forming a dry coating. In the pan, the tofu steams instead of frying and never really crisps, so it ends up soft and spongy on the salad instead of crunchy.

Using very low heat for the tofu causes it to sit in warm oil and slowly soak it up. The outside stays pale and a bit soggy, while the inside can feel rubbery, so the tofu pieces weigh down the salad and taste greasy instead of light.

Adding the hot tofu straight from the pan onto the greens can cause the lettuce and cabbage to wilt and collapse. The heat makes the vegetables lose their crunch and release water, so the salad turns limp and slightly watery at the bottom of the bowl.

Letting the peanut dressing stay too thick, without enough water, makes it clump on the leaves instead of coating them. Some bites end up with heavy blobs of sauce while other parts of the salad stay almost bare and dry.