Curried Tofu Salad with Grapes and Celery

I've had this tofu salad recipe posted on a small sticky on my fridge for almost a year now. I finally thought to make it and wish I didn't wait so long. I got the recipe from a friend's cookbook, so I can't take credit and can't remember the cookbook or exact measurements, however it is nothing really new, and similar to a chicken salad or any other tofu salad recipe. It is good enough to blog about, though, especially since it is another great no-cook dish.

Ingredients:
1 block firm tofu, drained and fork mashed

1/4 cup almonds, crushed

1 big bunch of grapes, sliced in half (maybe 30 grapes)

6 stalkes of celery, sliced and diced

1/4 cup reduced fat canola oil mayo

generous shakes of curry powder (to your liking)

salt to taste

Before making this recipe I tried to come up with an ingredient to use in place of mayonnaise. I really dislike mayo, and so does Funk, so we've never bought it. Trader Joe's has a reduced fat, canola oil based mayonaise that happens to be vegan. But the jar is massive with 64 servings (yikes!). I bought it anyway, vowing to tuck it in the back corner of my fridge because I don't even like the sight of mayo. Well, mayo won me over because it held this dish together perfectly, and I didn't really have to see it in the salad since it's the same color as the tofu. Funk doesn't even know there was mayo in the dish (unless of course he's reading this right now).

The salad is a perfect blend of sweet, savory, soft, and crunchy. You could make so many variations of this salad, too, using raisins, diced apples or pears in place of grapes. Try chili powder or garlic powder instead of curry, and use crushed walnuts in place of almonds for the same heart healthy fat benefits.

I scooped a serving into a bowl and enjoyed it with some broccoli slaw and a crusty dinner roll. Tomorrow I'll roll it into a wrap for lunch. And if the summer heat sticks around, I'll be making this no-cook dish again, well before next year rolls around.