Sushi Bar Salad

In high school and college, my mom and I used to go to a local sushi bar all the time.  Back then I ate fish and sushi was my favorite.  Veggie sushi is now my favorite, so some things never change.  

Often, we would just sit right at the sushi bar and ask the chef's to come up with something.  One day, the chef made me a salad.  He worked that skilled sushi chef magic and basically spiralized a cucumber with his knife (thankfully, I have a gadget for that).  Then he cut up various types of fish and tossed it with the cucumber, and squeezed lemon juice, drizzled soy sauce and sesame oil.  I like spicy, so he topped it with sliced jalapeños.  

As confident as I am in the kitchen, I didn't want to prepare raw fish at home, so even before I was vegan, I've been making this with tofu instead.  I realize raw cubed tofu is not for everyone, but I've always loved it.  People say tofu has no flavor, but I think it has a nice subtle flavor that is enjoyable in it's pure form.  I was maybe just born to be vegan.

I like to add some lettuce too, just to fill out the salad, but I still spiralize the cucumber to make it similar.  To give my salad the fishy flavor, I top with dulse flakes.

So easy, and it really has that refreshing and umami flavor profile you get with delicious Japanese cooking.

1-2 cups chopped romaine (or lettuce of choice)
1/4 block firm or extra firm tofu chopped in cubes
1/2 cucumber peeled and spiralized (link below to the spiralize I have)
Juice from one lemon
1 tsp soy sauce/coconut amigos/Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 jalapeno sliced finely
1-3 tsp dulse flakes (linked below)

I don't both the mix the dressing, and just layer the ingredients in a bowl and toss it.  Enjoy!