TL/DR. Roasted Sesame Tofu and Broccoli. A flavor packed, vegan meal featuring all the best that roasted broccoli has to offer along with sesame encrusted tofu cubes and a sweet and tangy shallot and garlic sauce. –
This easily qualifies as an easy weeknight vegan dinner. Roasting broccoli, if you haven’t done it, gives it a deep, nutty and almost sweet flavor. It’s a game changer. Sesame seeds make tofu a lot easier to cook because they prevent it from sticking to the cooking surface. Extra firm or just firm tofu both work for this recipe, it depends on your texture preference.
Start by heating an oven to 425 F. Toss medium-small broccoli florets and tofu cut into 3/4 inch cubes in a large bowl with canola oil, sesame oil, sesame seeds, garlic powder and celery salt. Coat everything well, then spread them on a baking sheet. Space them out well to give them room to roast properly.
As they roast for about 20 minutes, sauté garlic and shallots in a small skillet. Hit it with rice vinegar and allow that to cook mostly off. Then add vegetable broth and cook it down for about 5 minutes. Finish it off with mirin, honey, and soy sauce and allow it to cook down for another 5 minutes. This yields a very tasty sauce that isn’t sticky or thick, but is perfect for drizzling down over the roasted broccoli and tofu on a bed of rice.
For more easy everyday vegan recipes, try Italian Tofu and Chunky Tomato Sauce on Zoodles or Pistachio Pesto Macaroni.
Roasted Sesame Tofu and Broccoli
An easy weeknight vegan meal featuring roasted broccoli and tofu and an easy shallot garlic sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 heads of broccoli, cut into medium-small florets, about 3 cups
- 14 oz firm or extra firm tofu, cut into 3/4 inch cubes and drained in a towel for at least 10 minutes. This step can be done the day ahead and stored wrapped in the towel in the refrigerator.
- 3T canola oil, divided
- 2T sesame oil or toasted sesame oil
- 3 T sesame seeds
- 3/4 t garlic powder
- 1/2 t celery salt
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large shallot, minced, about 1/4 c
- 3 T rice vinegar
- 1 c vegetable broth
- 1 T mirin
- 1 T honey
- 1 T soy sauce
- 4 c cooked rice
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 425 F and start cooking the rice of your choice, or use pre-cooked rice.
- Step 2 Place the broccoli florets and the drained tofu cubes into a large bowl and toss them gently with 2 T canola oil and the sesame oil. Sprinkle on the sesame seeds, garlic powder and celery salt and fold gently until everything is coated well.
- Step 3 Pour the contents of the bowl onto a large sheet pan and spread everything out to allow space for roasting. Roast for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.
- Step 4 While the tofu and broccoli roast and the rice cooks, sauté the garlic and shallots in the remaining 1 T canola oil in a small skillet or saucepan for 2 minutes.
- Step 5 Add the rice vinegar and allow it to cook mostly off, about one minute. Allow about 1 T of the vinegar to remain.
- Step 6 Add the vegetable broth and boil the sauce on medium high heat for five minutes.
- Step 7 Add the mirin, honey and soy sauce and boil it for another five minutes. It should be visibly reduced but not thick or sticky.
- Step 8 Serve one cup of rice in each of 3 or 4 low bowls, topped with the roasted tofu and broccoli. Drizzle two or three tablespoons of the sauce over each serving and serve immediately.
