After a week of light nights and sunny evenings, I was inspired to pull together a new summer dish over the weekend. Though we're not huge salad lovers, we often make up different healthy grain/rice bowls as an alternative. They've got all sorts of names depending on what ingredients you use but some of the most common ones are power bowls, poke bowls and buddha bowls. They're fun to eat (usually with chopsticks as most of ours are Asian fusion), healthy, filling, and you can put them together using whatever you have in your cupboards/fridge.
This Thai Peanut Tofu Bowl is one of my favourites. The recipe was inspired by a Feasting at Home blog recipe which is where the peanut sauce originated, but this one uses ingredients and flavours that suit us better. Tofu works really nicely for this recipe but you could alternatively use chicken or salmon.
INGREDIENTS (SERVES 2)
For the peanut marinade/sauce:
- 2 teaspoons of ginger paste
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons agave syrup
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil
- 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
For the Buddha Bowl:
- 1 block of firm tofu
- 1 large sweet potato (seasoned as you wish, I like to use 1/2 teaspoon sumac and garlic powder)
- 60g lambs lettuce
- Jasmine rice (or a preferred noodle/grain)
- Edamame beans
- 2 spring onions
- 1/2 avocado
- Sesame seeds
DIRECTIONS
First, make the peanut sauce. Blitz all the ingredients together in a blender and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees c (fan).
Peel and dice the sweet potato into cubes and place in a roasting tin. Drizzle with rapeseed oil and season with salt and pepper and whatever seasonings you like. I tend to use 1/2 teaspoon of sumac and 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder.
Slice the tofu into 1-2 inch strips and place them on a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Season with salt and pepper then coat the tofu on all three sides with half of the peanut sauce. Reserve the remaining sauce for later.
Bake the sweet potatoes and tofu in the oven for 30 minutes.
While they're cooking, prepare whatever ingredients you'd like to add to your bowl. I like to make up a small portion of rice to add to the lettuce, spring onion, avocado, edamame beans and lambs lettuce but noodles or lentils would also work. You can also use whatever salad or vegetables you like to suit your own tastes.
Divide the remaining peanut sauce into small pots in the centre of each dish and assemble the bowls as you wish. I like to have the peanut sauce in the middle to dip in but you could alternatively use it as a dressing.
It's as simple as that. A quick, tasty summer dish that's healthy and yummy! Have a play around with the different components. If you wanted to make this a meat dish you could switch the tofu out for chicken but I'd recommend giving the tofu a try first. As ever, if you enjoy making the recipe do let me know, and make sure you snap a picture and tag me on twitter/instagram. Happy Cooking!