These veggie bowls are a true delight! Hitting all the taste and texture points one could hope for – sweet, savory, smooth, crunchy—while remaining super healthy and fun. Assemble them to present a beautiful bowl or serve the components and let everyone build their own, either way you’ve got a winner! Not a tofu lover? This peanut sauce would work well on chicken, pork,or steak as well.
14ozextra firm tofudrained, pressed, and sliced (see instructions for details)
3/4cuplime juice from about 6 limes
½ tspsea salt or other coarse salt
1/8tspground black pepper
1bell pepperany color, stemmed and thinly sliced
1carrotpeeled and cut into matchsticks
4radishesthinly sliced
1cupjasmine rice or use basmati rice
1cupsmooth peanut butteruse the natural variety with no added sugar
2tbsppeanut oilor use vegetable oil
2tbsphoney
1tbspwhite miso
1tbspfresh gingerpeeled and grated
1tbspfish sauceor use soy sauce to keep it vegetarian
3cupsarugulaor use mizuna, baby mustard, or baby kale
2scallions thinly sliced
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drain the tofu, wrap it in a clean dish towel, place it between two dinner plates, and press the top plate down with a heavy cookbook or skillet to squeeze out as much moisture as possible.
In a small bowl, mix 6 Tablespoons of lime juice with the salt and black pepper and stir until the salt dissolves. Add the sliced bell pepper, carrot, and radishes and stir well. Set aside.
In a small pot, prepare the rice according the package directions. When it is finished cooking, remove from the heat and let sit until ready to serve.
In another small bowl, whisk together 4 Tablespoons of lime juice, the peanut butter, miso, ginger, fish sauce (or soy sauce), 2 Tablespoons of oil, 1 Tablespoon of honey, and ¾ cup water. Stir until smooth and season to taste with salt.
Slice the tofu, lengthwise into ¼-inch slices, then cut each slice crosswise to form small, thin rectangles of tofu.
Lay the tofu out in a single layer on the baking sheet and top each piece of tofu with about 1 Tablespoon of the peanut sauce. It will drip down over the tofu and coat the sides as well. Place in the oven and roast until the glaze is set and has begun to caramelize (go dark) along the edges,about 18-20 minutes.
While the tofu is cooking, add the remaining lime juice and1 Tablespoon of honey to the leftover peanut sauce to make a dressing. And thinly slice the scallions.
When the tofu is done, stir the scallions into the rice, and then assemble your bowls by placing ¼ of the greens in the bottom of each bowl, topped with rice, ¼ of the chopped vegetables, slices of the tofu, and extra dressing to taste. Or put all the bowl components out on the table and let everyone build their own bowl.
Notes
Do Ahead and Delegate: Make the peanut dressing and slice the vegetables.