During my salad-a-day month last March, my Canadian friend Kinga sent me this recipe. It’s a really popular dish named not after anything in the movie Porky’s but rather a ski bowl at Whitewater Ski Resort in Nelson, British Columbia. It took me a while to get over to Whole Foods for the nutritional yeast flakes. I had never heard of them & tried to never go to Whole Foods for various reasons. Also, when I read this recipe it sounded a little TOO healthy in that unsatisfying way some restaurant salads are. So I put it off.

Finally I had all the ingredients and decided to go for it. It’s SO WORTH IT!!!! SOOOOO WORTH IT!!!!! It’s amazing – something that looks like a pile of what G would call “Rabbit Food” but is so flavorful, satisfying & doesn’t weigh you down.

You’ve got to try this. Although it has a lot of components, the prep for each one is pretty simple.

Here’s what you need for the salad:

**NOTE: this makes enough for 8 people so you may want to halve it, which is what I did.**

SALAD INGREDIENTS:
2 TBSP vegetable oil
2 c cubed extra firm tofu (remember to press water out first!)
8 c hot cooked brown rice
2 c grated carrots
2 c grated beets
2 c packed baby spinach
2 c slivered or slice almonds, toasted

For the dressing:

and this:

DRESSING INGREDIENTS:
1/2 c nutritional yeast flakes
1/3 c soy sauce (or tamari)
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1/3 c water
2 TBSP tahini
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1-1/2 c vegetable oil

1. First, press your tofu. You can need to press it for about 15 minutes and can do that while making the dressing.

2. While that’s a-pressin’, add all your dressing ingredients to the blender & puree until creamy!

(Note: Properly stored, this can be kept for up to ONE week in the refrigerator.)

3. Cook your rice. I found this quick cook brown rice at Trader Joe’s. Takes about 10 mins instead of 45 mins so I did it! You can also find pre-cooked brown rice in the FREEZER section at Trader Joe’s. Just pop in micro for about 3 mins. That’s what I do when I’m in a crunch. **NOTE: if you’re using the regular brown rice – start this earlier according to how much time you need. You can always heat it up if you need to.**

4. Now prep your veggies. As you may or may not know (or care) I use a hand grater. Builds character.

5. Time to lightly pan fry that tofu! Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. I sprinkle a few pinches of salt over the tofu and turn when it’s golden brown. After all sides are lightly browned, drain on a paper towel lined plate.

6. Now for the fun part: ASSEMBLY! Add your rice layer in a nice sized bowl.

Drizzle about a tablespoon of dressing over the rice.

Top rice with spinach.

Add carrots & beets.

Now the almonds.

The tofu and about 3 more TBSP of the dressing.

Bea loved this dish! She doesn’t have that many teeth yet so she had some trouble chewing the spinach but she ate 2 bowls of this.

M ate only the rice.

Thanks, Kinga!

Source: Canadian Living Magazine