Heartwarming Red Cabbage Salad

This salad was inspired by a recipe from the blog 101cookbooks. The original recipe called for feta and parmesan cheese, which I omitted, and added superfirm tofu to make it vegan and I tweaked a few other ingredients. It turned out really good! Even better the next day.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)
salt to taste

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, diced
3 medium cloves garlic, minced

2 ounces extra firm tofu, cubed

1 pound head of red cabbage cut into thin ribbons

1 teaspoon dried rosemary
3 tablespoons golden raisins 

3 tablespoons dried cherries

2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, roast the sunflower seeds until they are golden brown. Stir in the sugar and a few pinches of salt. Heat until the sugar dissolves and coats the seeds. Remove the seeds from heat immediately and spread them out on a plate.

2. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add onions and heat for a few minutes. Add garlic, salt and tofu and continue to cook until onions are slightly translucent. Add cabbage and a few more pinches of salt, cook until the cabbage slightly softens. Add rosemary, raisins, cherries and vinegar, stir well while cooking for about another minute. Remove from heat and adjust salt to taste.

3. Serve topped with sunflower seeds.