Meatless Monday: Tofu and Roasted Vegetable Rice Bowl with Spicy Peanut Sauce

I love food served in a bowl. Whatever it is, I just really enjoy mixing all of my ingredients together. Add a delicious sauce, such as this spicy peanut sauce, and I’m in love.

This is a pretty easy meal to put together, despite the various cooking methods. You could cook up the broccoli and cauliflower in a pan, but I just love the flavour that you get from roasting these vegetables. This dish can be as spicy or as mild as you’d like it to be. Whatever is leftover makes for a delicious meal the next day.

Here’s what you’ll need:
1/2 block extra firm tofu
1/3 cup chickpea flour
Grapeseed or coconut oil
1/2 head green or red cabbage
1/2 head broccoli
1/2 head cauliflower
1/2 onion (white or red)
2 cloves of garlic
2 cups brown rice
Chili flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon of peanut butter
1 teaspoon tahini
1 teaspoon of olive oil
Pinch of green curry paste (or chili flakes)
Squirt of lemon juice
Dash of soy sauce

What to do:
1. Preheat your oven to 400. Roughly chop broccoli and cauliflower and place on baking sheet.  Add 1 tablespoon of oil and a bit of salt. Bake in the oven until slightly crispy, about 15 minutes.
2. Cut tofu into thin strips. Place on a plate and coat with chickpea flour. Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan. Once pan is hot, CAREFULLY add tofu to the pan. lightly fry until golden on all sides. Set tofu aside on a plate.
3. Cook rice according to package instructions
4. When tofu is cooked, use the pan to add your roughly-chopped cabbage and onion with a bit of oil. Lightly fry until soft. Once it’s cooked, add tofu, broccoli and cauliflower to the pan and mix together. Allow all ingredients to cook.

For the sauce:
(To be honest, I eyeballed this a little, but you don’t want it to be too thick. Taste as you go to make sure the level of heat is to your liking)
Mix all ingredients into a bowl and pour over ingredients in the pan.

Once everything is fully mixed together and your rice is cooked, put rice at the bottom of the bowl and cover with mixture. You could add a little Siricha to the top if you need a little extra kick!

What did you make for dinner this weekend?

-Jessica Harding, associate web editor

(Photo: Thinkstock)