This cilantro lime rice with spiced mushrooms and tofu is a delightfully bright way to embrace the best offerings of your spring farmers market. At the market I found fresh herbs, including cilantro, and our local mushroom farm had many offerings as well.
In the early days of spring I seem to eat a lot of mushrooms. Winter vegetables are out because we are either tired of them or out of our winter stock pile from the garden. Other spring vegetables are not quite in yet, so mushrooms help to fill the gap in seasonal vegetables.
The sauce on this recipe is my favorite part. The bright lime zest really sings in the yogurt sauce that provides a creamy cooling foil to the spiced mushrooms and tofu.
Tips and Tricks for the Cilantro Lime Rice with Spiced Mushrooms and Tofu:
I add small amounts of salt at every step of this recipe to ensure that everything gets equally seasoned. I recommend learning the size of your pinch so you don’t have to measure every time. One pinch of salt for me is about 1/16th of a teaspoon, so two pinches each time is just right.
To press my tofu before cooking I squeeze it between my palms over the sink until the water slows to a drip. This is fast and doesn’t require any tools while still removing the mositure so that the tofu doesn’t steam in the skillet and will sear and crisp up instead.
I have a love/hate relationship with recipes that don’t use up a whole box/can of an ingredient. I love many recipes that do this, but it is annoying to have random amounts of extras. I must admit that this recipe uses 1 ½ 8-oz boxes mushrooms, leaving you with an extra 4 oz of mushrooms. You can reduce the recipe down to 8oz of mushrooms if you have another vegetable you would like to mix in to replace the extra mushroom, like a cup of leftover steamed broccoli or some shredded green cabbage.
Variations to the Cilantro Lime Rice with Spiced Mushrooms and Tofu:
- Use a different protein: Try replacing the tofu with chickpeas or tempeh. For the chickpeas, add the can of drained and rinsed chickpeas to the skillet after the mushrooms are cooked. For the tempeh, add a ¼ cup water to the skillet when it is sauteing to help gently steam the tempeh.
- To use fresh jalapeno, increase the amount of lime juice to make up for the vinegar in the picked jalapenos.
- Make it vegan: Try using a coconut yogurt in place of the Greek yogurt and mayo.
- If you cut a 16 oz block of tofu in half to make this recipe, here are other recipes that use an 8 oz block tofu: Blackened Tofu and Peach Salsa Tacos, Mushroom and Tofu Paprikash, Tofu and Vegetable Thai Red Curry or Coconut Turmeric Noodle Bowls.
- Zest and juice of ½ a lime
- 1 cup cilantro (leaves and stems)
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed
- 4 slices pickled jalapeno (from a jar)
- 1 TBS water
- ½ tsp salt, divided
- ¼ cup non fat greek yogurt
- 2 TBS mayo
- ¾ cup brown rice
- 1⅛ cup water, for the rice cooker
- Splash olive oil
- 8 oz block extra firm tofu, pressed and cubed
- 1 TBS avocado oil
- 12 oz mushrooms, sliced
- ½ tsp each: paprika and cumin
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- Zest half a lime half into a small bowl and set aside. Cut in half and juice the zested half of the lime into another bowl. Refrigerate remaining lime half for another use.
- Add the lime juice, cilantro, garlic, jalapeno, 1TBS water and about ⅛ tsp of the salt to a mini food processor and process until smooth.
- Add about ⅛ tsp of the salt and 2 TBS of the cilantro puree to the reserved lime zest. Add the yogurt and mayo and stir until smooth to make the yogurt sauce.
- In a rice cooker or a pot on the stove top combine the remaining cilantro puree, rice, a splash of olive oil and 1⅛th cup water and cook covered tightly until the rice is tender and the water is absorbed.
- Cook tofu with ⅛ tsp of the salt in the avocado oil until golden and crispy on 2-3 sides, about 10 minutes.
- Remove the tofu from the pan and add the mushrooms and the remaining ⅛ tsp of salt. Cook until the liquid is evaporated. Add the tofu back with the cumin, paprika, and black pepper. Stir to coat and cook another 3-5 minutes.
- Serve with rice on the bottom, then the spiced mushroom mixture, and finally the yogurt sauce on top.
