There’s a sushi restaurant in West Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard called Ari-Ya. It is descended from an identical restaurant in the same location called Murakami. I remember when Murakami became Ari-Ya: the only thing that changed was the name, even the menus were the same, with sticky labels gracefully replacing Murakami with Ari-Ya. It’s still that way, if you check it out!

They have a regular sushi menu (the veggie rolls are a perfect vegan treat), but the reason I go there is a totally unique salad that’s SO GOOD. While, technically, this should be an Ari-Ya salad, I’m calling it by its maiden name of Murakami salad. Why? Just because.

In keeping with the Quarrygirl modus-el-operandi, I decided to emulate said salad at home, and hopefully improve the recipe to my own taste. The secret to a good salad is proportion: too much of any one ingredient throws the taste off balance quickly.

The Murakami salad takes only a few minutes to make, but you have to plan ahead as the tofu has to be soaked and refrigerated for a while.

INGREDIENTS
Pack of Extra Firm tofu
Pack of “asian leaf” salad, or something similar (any dark, non-crunchy leaves will suffice)
Seaweed salad (usually near the sushi or seafood section of your grocery store)
Soy Vey Teriyaki sauce (from a bottle)
Soy sauce (duh!)
Sesame seeds

METHOD
1. Marinating the tofu
Cut the tofu pack into four or eight large slices (depending on how big you like your slabs)
Submerge in boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain

Mix the marinade: half a cup of Soy Vey Teriyaki, half a cup of Soy sauce
Pile the tofu, one slice at a time into a properly sized tupperware container, ensuring each slice is covered with the marinade

Shove the tofu in the fridge for at least an hour, or freeze for 30 minutes if you’re in a rush

2. Preparing the salad
Follow the 80-20 rule:
80% of the salad is “asian leaf” (put that at the bottom of your bowl)
20% is seaweed salad, spread that out neatly on top of the “asian leaf”
Retrieve the tofu from the marinade, and lay out on top of the salad, spreading evenly
Drizzle the remaining marinade over the salad
Garnish with sesame seeds
Pop the salad in the fridge for 30 minutes, and serve cold

Kudos to Murakami/Ari-Ya for inventing an easy to emulate, yet delicious salad.

voila! you are DONE