Mint and Spinach Salad with Fried Tofu (Vegan)

Mr N was dubious when I said I was putting mint in this, but he was wrong.

Mint and Spinach Salad with Fried Tofu
Serves 2 for a meal, 3-4 for small portions

Ingredients

For the fried tofu

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon salt

0.25 teaspoons cayenne pepper

0.5 cups fine breadcrumbs

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

250g (or thereabouts - packages seem to vary) firm tofu

For the salad

Prepare the vegetables according to your salad preferences/hunger level. The amount I used and what I did is in brackets.

Spinach (approx 1.5 cups per person of smallish leaves)

Carrot (I used two smallish carrots, sliced thinly into 3-4cm pieces)

Capsicum/Bell Pepper/Pepper (I used one that was half way between green and orange - it looked nice with the carrot - and cut it into thin lengths)

4-5 leaves of fresh mint, chopped finely

Balsamic essence (or whatever that thick balsamic stuff is called that posh restaurants use - the one I got is called "Acetico Balsamico de Modena" which according to Wikipedia is the real stuff, but it is very thick, not at all like vinegar, so now I don't know what to think)

Olive oil

Method

1. Mix the dry ingredients for the fried tofu in a bowl.

2. Chop the tofu into small chunks (I recommend slicing in half through the block, like filleting a fish, then chopping into cubes).

3. Mix the tofu and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in with the dry ingredients. The mixture should mostly stick to the tofu. If bits don't, add a little more olive oil.

4. Lightly oil a frying pan and heat over a medium to high heat.

5. Tip the bowl of tofu (even any bits of the mixture that haven't stuck to the tofu) into the pan.

6. If you're good at multitasking, you can prepare the salad ingredients white the tofu fries. Just mix around the tofu bits every so often to ensure they're not getting burnt. Once they are a golden brown all over, turn the heat off. They don't need to be totally hot when they go into the salad so they can sit there while you finish prepping the salad things.

7. Put the salad vegetables into bowls. (Or plates - I'm not judging.) Put the fried tofu on top. Drizzle a little olive oil and balsamic essence over the salad. (Bonus marks: make a nice pattern with the balsamic like they do on takeaway pizzas.)