Beet lovers, rejoice! This dish is for you. Beet skeptics, have no fear! Feel free to replace the beets with your favorite roasting vegetable (e.g. butternut squash, sweet potato, brussels sprouts, etc.).
The flavors in this dish are inspired by Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, which make glorious use of sweet, savory, and warming ingredients like cumin, coriander, dill, honey, dates, and cinnamon to create surprising harmony in food. These flavors are often balanced by the sharp acidity and brininess of, say, olives and feta cheese, and I’m so excited to share my quick & easy method to create your own vegan feta, using tofu. I add a Western twist to the dish by adding a smoky note to the beets.
This is a perfect “transition to fall” dish because it has roasted vegetables but can (and should, for optimum flavor) be served cold. It also has so many bright flavors that scream, “Summer!” — a reminder that we’re not done with hot weather just yet!
Smoky Beet Salad
Ingredients
Smoky Beeets
- 2 medium beets sliced into ½" cubes
- 1 ½ C water or enough to cover the bottom of your braising pan, but not enough to cover beets
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 1 ½ Tbsp liquid smoke
- 1 Tbsp dill weed dried (or sub ¼ C fresh, roughly chopped)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander dried, ground
- 1 Tbsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper ground
Tofu Feta Cheese
- 14 oz extra firm tofu frozen, drained, & squeezed dry
- 2 C water
- ¼ C kosher salt
- ¼ C nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp white miso
- ½ C lemon juice
- 3/8 C olive oil
Salad
- 2 ½ C smoky beets (recipe above) cut into ½" cubes
- 2 medium carrots shredded
- 1 – 1 ½ C cooked grain of choice (couscous, quinoa, rice, etc.)
- ½ C pistachios toasted, roughly chopped
- ½ C almonds toasted, slivered or roughly chopped
- ½ C Medjool dates roughly chopped
Vinaigrette
- ¼ C lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp honey or sub agave nectar
- 1 tsp dill weed dried (or sub 2 tsp fresh, minced)
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper ground
Instructions
Smoky Beets
- Start by cooking your beets. Preheat oven to 425°F and get out a metal or glass pan that's at least 2 inches deep. Add your cubed beets, water, and sprinkle in the rest of the ingredients. Toss well to mix all of the flavors and coat the beets.
- Cover the pan with foil place in the preheated oven. Allow to braise for 1 ½ hours while you prepare the rest of the salad.
Tofu Feta
- Next, begin marinating your tofu for the "feta cheese" garnish.
- If your tofu is still frozen*, thaw it in the microwave until all ice is liquified. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then slice or tear into large chunks. Over a sink, squeeze all of the water out of each piece of tofu. It's ok if the tofu gets a little mutilated during this process – the final result will be feta-like chunks, which are often a little more rustic-looking instead of perfect cubes.
- In a saucepan, add the rest of the ingredients except for the lemon juice. Stir to combine. Heat to a bare simmer, remove from heat, and stir in the lemon juice.
- Place the dried tofu chunks in a pan or bowl. Tear the chunks into feta-sized pieces. Pour the heated marinade over the tofu, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and place in your refrigerator to cool and marinade for at least 30 minutes.
Finishing the salad
- Toast and slice the pistachios and almonds if they aren't already prepared. Roughly chop the dates. Cook your grain of choice and set aside 1 cup for this salad.
- Shred the carrots with a cheese grater or a food processor with the "shredder" attachment.
- Whisk together all of the ingredients in the vinaigrette.
- Add all of the salad ingredients except for the beets and tofu feta into a large bowl. Pour in the vinaigrette (you may not need all of it – add just enough for the grains to absorb an ample amount and to coat all of the ingredients). Toss to coat all of the ingredients.
- At this point, your tofu should be marinated and the beets should be about done (test the beets for tenderness by piercing with a fork; if you can easily fork several cubes, they're finished).
- To serve, place a generous handful of the carrot/nut/date mixture on each plate. Top with your smoky beets and garnish with the tofu feta (add just enough tofu to add little "pops" of salty-briny-ness, but don't overdo it).
