Spicy Blue Lake Bean Salad with Tofu

Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
2 cups Blue Lake beans
4 oz. fried tofu or regular firm tofu
1 T peanut butter
2-3 t hot chili sauce (or to taste)
1 t sugar
1 T soy sauce
juice from half a lime
2 T sesame oil
1 clove garlic, smashed into a paste

Remove the ends from the beans. (Cut longer beans if needed.) Boil a pot of water and then toss the beans in the boiling water for about a minute to blanch them. (Be sure to salt the water at this time to season your beans.) Quickly remove and place in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and to retain the nice green color. Drain in colander and let dry.

Cut your tofu into strips and place in large bowl with beans. In a smaller bowl, whisk together peanut butter, hot chili sauce, sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, mashed garlic and sesame oil. Then drizzle over beans and tofu and toss. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and serve cold. (You can make this dish a day ahead.) Garnish with either chopped peanuts or toasted sesame seeds.

Makes 2 to 3 servings.

Pair with a glass of Riesling.

TIP: If you’re not a big fan of tofu, you can simply make a spicy green bean dish and add grated carrots for color and maybe some raisins to cool the mouth from the spicy sauce.

HOW HOT ARE YOU?: For the hot chili sauce, I used the Heavenly Chef's brand of Hunan Red Chili Sauce (made in San Leandro) that I get from my local Asian grocery store. You can use any of your favorite hot sauce, just be sure to add a little at a time to the dressing, tasting all the while to make sure it’s the right level of spicyness.