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Most days when I don’t have much time to sit and eat an elaborate meal, I throw things in a bowl and eat up anything combined with anything. This book by Becky Striepe takes those daily meals to a whole new level by providing simple options for the layers in the bowls and combinations that are tried and tested and loved.
Bowls are quick and easy. Becky’s bowl basics are simple, add a layer of grains, potatoes, greens or pasta, top with veggies, then protein and some awesome sauces or dressings. With the recipes for each of the bowl elements in the book, there are endless possibilities to come up with your own combinations!
The book has chapters on Breakfast and Brunch Bowls, Lunches and suppers, Soups and Stews, Sauces and Layers basics.
I made this Peanut butter Tofu Bowl with the perfect mashed potatoes (and they definitely are perfect, noochy, peppery and perfect!), greens and drizzled up with more peanut butter sauce. That sauce is so good that I threw in some cauliflower in it and baked those up as well (baked for 25 minutes at 425 degrees F). Clearly most of the cauliflower did not make it to the pictures. What can I say, we all know by now how much Cauliflower we eat in this house. I should just change the tagline of the blog to Eating Cauliflower till we photosynthesize 😉
Back to the Bowls book. Becky has worked on the book and published it by herself! Which I can tell you is a big feat. so many steps go into writing and publishing a book! Support her by getting yourself a copy here!
Becky is also giving away the book to 2 readers of the blog. One print copy within US and One digital copy for International readers, anywhere in the world! Please enter the Giveaway at the end of the post.
Yumm.. This Peanut Butter Tofu Bowl!
Peanut Butter Tofu Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 block extra firm tofu
- 1 batch Peanut Butter Sauce, see below
- 1 batch Perfect Mashed Potatoes, see below
- Greens
- salt and pepper
Peanut Butter Sauce
- 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- juice of 1/2 a fresh lemon
- 1-2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce, to taste
- 2-6 tablespoons of water
Perfectly Mashed Potatoes
- 2 large red or white potatoes - about the size of a tennis ball - cut into 2” pieces. The thin skin is key, since we are not peeling them.
- 1/4 or more cup soy or almond milk, plus extra, as needed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
- salt and pepper, to taste
- green onions, chopped (optional)
Instructions
Method
Make the Peanut Butter Sauce
- Put the ginger, garlic, peanut butter, soy sauce, lemon juice, and Sriracha into your blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, adding water by the tablespoon as needed to get things moving.
Make the Mashed Potatoes
- 1. Put your potatoes into a large pot, adding enough water to cover them completely. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minuntes, until they’re fork-tender. Transfer to a colander to drain.
- 2. In a medium-sized bowl, mash up your potato a little bit, then add the soy milk and olive oil. It’s going to look way too liquidy at this point, but don’t panic! Just keep mashing. I try to mash down anything that’s larger than a pea in size, but if you like your mashed potatoes ultra smooth you can mash even more or even get in there with an immersion blender.
- 3. Once the potatoes are the consistency you like, fold in the nutritional yeast. Stir well to completely combine, then add a little extra soy milk – one tablespoon at a time – if things look a little bit dry. Every potato is different, so the exact amount of soy milk is going to vary.
- 4. Season with salt and pepper, top with the green onions.
Make the bowl
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350F / 180ºc
- 2. Slice your block of tofu into 8 cutlets, and arrange them in a greased 9×12” glass baking pan.
- 3. Make your Peanut Butter Sauce and pour it over the tofu, making sure each cutlet gets a nice coating, and bake for 30 minutes.
- 4. While the tofu bakes, make your Perfect Mashed Potatoes.
- 5. Divide the greens and potatoes between your four bowls, and dish up two cooked cutlets on top.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My family loves this including my 1 and 5 year olds. I sometimes bake the tofu with some steamed brown rice and veg or salad. Thank you! It’s become a staple recipe for us
sounds tasty & healthy!! Thank you so much for the rave review!
So good!! My sauce was very thick, I’d make it thinner next time but loved the flavor. It was so easy and came together quickly. I’ll make it again.
Califico, aunque aún no la preparo, pues es nutritiva, fácil , y con esos ingredientes tiene que estar deliciosa. Aunque no es receta tuya, Richa, te agradezco la compartas . Tengo tu libro Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen: excelente!!!, y me encanta me envies recetas, realmente las disfruto. Las traduzco y las guardo en mi Cel. Mil gracias. Un saludos desde México.
Hi Richa, I have a question about this recipe. You do not mention that one should press the tofu. Should we? I have always pressed my tofu but have only been making recipes with it for about a year.
By the way, my daughter found this recipe of yours on Instagram. We’re making it tonight.
Its pressed, Sometimes you get already pressed firm or extra firm tofu, so i must have used that when the recipe was written up. Let me know how it turned out!
i don’t particularly like this new fad (bowls) but i LOVE this recipe Haha
yogurt with granola or a rewarm of some chili or soup
I love to eat a simple sandwich
I love to make tomato soup with a sandwich for those days!
My quick lunches are whatever I have cooked on the weekend to get me through the week. It can be anything.
I’m a big fan of hummus wraps and cashew butter roll ups. 🙂