Amazing Quinoa Bowl with Red Curry Tofu
an incredible Vegan meal
I rarely get excited about quinoa.
I mean I like it and all, but it doesn’t thrill me.
I eat it because everyone keeps telling me how good it is for me — very high in protein and fibre and a complete set of amino acids.
Now, I like protein, fibre and amino acids as much as the girl next door (she probably likes them more, now that I think about it), but the food I put in my mouth on a daily basis must taste good.
Like you, I’ve struggled through many a meal of healthy food that is nearly impossible to chew, swallow and digest.
And, like you, whenever I’ve been pretending to enjoy one of these horrible “good for me” dishes, I’ve been dreaming of melted cheese, tater tots and sushi.
And, once again, like you, I have always wondered why one of these brainiacs couldn’t just put their heads together and develop a recipe that was healthy, tasty and didn’t make you pine for something else or make you feel like you were eating sawdust.
This recipe is one such recipe.
It is awesome.
Don’t worry about the long list of ingredients.
You must cook this.
Seriously.
Ingredients
Tofu
1 lb Firm Tofu
2 Tbs Vegetable Oil
3 Tbs Soy Sauce
2 Garlic Cloves
1 tsp Lime Zest
3 Tbs Lime Juice
1 Tbs Agave Syrup
2 Tbs Thai Red Curry Paste
Quinoa
1 cup Quinoa
2 Cups Water
1/2 Tsp Salt
6 Tbs Peanut Butter
6 Tbs Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
4 Tbs Lime Juice
2 Tbs Soy Sauce
4 Tbs (or more) Ginger Root, grated
4 tsp Sesame Oil
8 Shanghai Bok Choy/Large stalks Broccoli/Gai Lan
1 lb Asparagus/Green Beans/Diced Celery/Snow Peas
2 Tbs Peanut Oil
1 Cup Frozen Edamame
2/3 Cup Carrots, grated
4 Radishes/1/2 Cup Daikon, grated
4 Small Handfuls Pea Shoots
4 Tbs Peanuts, roasted and chopped
Steps
1) Set oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease a 9 inch square baking dish.
2) Cut tofu into uniform shapes — cubes, triangular prisms, pyramids it don’t matter. Knock yourself out! Don’t attempt to cut the tofu into two-dimensional shapes. It just isn’t physically possible.
3) Smash the garlic cloves with the side of your chef’s knife, only showing restraint if you feel you need to. Peel and mince the cloves.
4)Zest and juice the lime. There, I said it. Cue knife drop (actually, don’t — supremely dangerous).
5) Mix all of the marinade ingredients together and toss the tofu pieces in the marinade and then pour into baking dish. To recap — mix, toss, pour in that order.
6) Place in oven and bake for 40 minutes — flipping tofu pieces after 20 minutes.
7) While the tofu is baking, put the quinoa, water and salt in a small pot and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, reduce the temperature to low and cover and set the timer for 18 minutes. Normally, I’d suggest resting on your laurels at this point, but not now, not today, not on those laurels! How many times do I have to tell you that?!??!
8) Combine the peanut butter, sweet chili paste, lime juice, soy sauce, grated ginger root and sesame oil in a small bowl and mix until smooth. Really smooth. Like so smooth a small part of you is contemplating covering your forearms with it. A small part. The part that doesn’t make decisions.
9) Heat peanut oil in a large frying pan or wok on medium high heat. Once hot, add vegetables and fry until just tender.
10) Reduce to medium low and add sauce and mix thoroughly.
11) To serve, place 1/4 of the quinoa in a bowl, top with a good amount of sauce and vegetables and then garnish with grated carrots, grated radishes, chopped peanuts, pea shoots and baked tofu.
The first bite is an incredible bite of food. The second is also quite good. As is the third. After that, you may lose all concept of place and time and number of bites, but don’t worry, just think of all of the protein, fiber and amino acid you’ve just put into your body.
