Sometimes it’s the simplest recipes that end up being among your favorites. Take this sandwich for instance. It doesn’t look that special, but after your first bite you realize that it has so much going on: it’s creamy, crunchy, tangy, savory, filling, and healthy. Plus, with the bright, eye-catching colors, this sandwich will have you dreaming of being in the warm California sun 🙂
This sandwich was born out of my desire to find a use for leftover carrots that didn’t involve roasting them – because whether or not the weather decides to cooperate, I will at least eat like it is finally springtime. After browsing through countless spriralzied carrot pastas and chilled carrot soups, I finally found the recipe my stomach was craving: pickled carrots. If you know me, then you might find that strange as I HATE pickles, but that’s more of a texture issue than taste. Bry on the other hand loves pickles (he even will drink the juice. . .somethings I will just never understand), so I figured that even if I didn’t like the carrots, I knew he would be more than happy to polish them off.
And trust me, making the carrots is very straight forward! Start by cutting your carrots into matchsticks and place them in a glass jar with any other veggies you’d like – I had some leftover cabbage to throw in, but peppers, onions, or cucumbers (after all, we are pickling) would work great as well. Add in some red pepper flakes if you want a little extra heat. In a small saucepan, bring water, sugar, salt, vinegar, and harissa seasoning to a boil (if you don’t have harissa, make your own using paprika, garlic powder, coriander, cumin, caraway, and red pepper flakes; or play around with your own flavor combinations!). Dissolve the sugar, then pour the mixture over the carrots and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
The next day, simply drain and press your tofu. If you like your tofu to be a little crispy (definitely my preference), simply heat olive oil in a skillet and pan fry the tofu so it is golden brown on each side. If you like raw tofu, then no need to do anything more than drain, press, and cut into strips. Toast your bread, smother with hummus and smashed avocado, then top with tofu and pickled carrots.
I do want to warn you, this is not a dainty sandwich. You will likely get hummus and/or avocado all over your fingers and it’s a struggle to keep the pickled veggies in place. But I loved every messy minute of it and I hope you will too! So here’s a toast to not underestimating the deliciousness of crunchy veggie sandwiches!
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What a lovely combo of flavors! I would totally do the harissa on mine 😉
Thank you! Harissa is for sure the way to go 🙂
This sandwich looks amazing! Love tofu in sandwiches. And those pickled veg.
Thanks! Yes, the pickled veggies definitely make it a keeper!
Wow! What a classic this will have great flavor
Thank you 🙂 Yes, it definitely shows that vegetarian food can pack a serious flavor-punch!
This looks amazing! I love non-dainty sandwiches that are brimming with flavor!
Thank you! Hope you give it a try 🙂
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