Tasting notes
Savory
Can make it spicy or sweet with dressing
30 mins from start to finish
Ingredients
Good for 2-3 meals x 2 people
Red Quinoa - 1 cup
Sweet potatoes - 2
Firm Tofu block - 2
Cooked chickpeas - 2 cups
Crunchy nuts of choice (e.g. salted peanuts)
Avocado - 1/2
Lime / Lemon juice
Optional - Hemp seeds
Recipe
All the individual ingredients can be cooked in parallel.
Sweet Potatoes
Takes the longest to cook - so good place to start
Can be cooked in oven, but I prefer skillet because it’s much faster
Wash thoroughly, remove any skin that looks like a dirt pocket
Dice in small pieces, I go for roughly 1 cm x 1 cm
Add the diced sweet potatoes to a pre-heated skillet (low-medium flame)
Add 2 tsp of olive oil, salt, and mix
Cover and cook for 15 mins, stirring every 5 mins or so
For last 5 mins, once they are almost fully cooked, cook without a cover and add any additional seasoning (e.g. black pepper)
This method allows for potatoes to cook quickly via steaming, and get caramelized with the direct heat from the base of skillet
Quinoa
Add quinoa to the sauce pan and dry roast for 5 mins on low-medium flame
Optional - roast with coconut oil
Boil 2 .5 cups of water on the side
Keep the heat low and stir occasionally to make sure quinoa doesn’t burn
Add boiling water, salt, and cover
Cook for ~10 mins, remove lid, and let the rest of water evaporate
Keep a spoon handy to taste if Quinoa has cooked (I prefer slightly el-dente, especially since it’ll keep cooking while it sits in the pan)
Tofu scramble
Can use the same skillet as sweet potatoes
Directly place the two blocks of tofu on the pan and let them sear
No need to press / marinade the tofu first. All the water will be evaporated with cooking
Once both sides are seared, start breaking tofu into pieces. Firm tofu is easy to break with any wooden spatula and it’s a lot of fun!
Keep breaking, stirring, until all of Tofu is a scramble
Add 2 tsp oil, salt, black salt, and 1 tsp turmeric, and stir until all tofu pieces are evenly coated. I like adding these later in the cooking after most of the water has evaporated so that oil can help make some tofu pieces crisp for texture
Cook for 10 mins with occasional stir
Chickpeas
I usually buy tetra pack version of chickpeas instead of canned version
The main goal is to take these chickpeas, and add a bit of flavor. I also like to cook them a bit more than what they come in the package
Add water, red pepper, lime juice / vinegar, garlic powder, ginger powder, and some mustard or tomato paste with chickpeas and cook with lid on for 5 mins
Then remove lid and cook in the open pan for 5 mins to reduce the sauce
Add cornstarch slurry (1/2 tsp corn start, 2 tsp water) in case the sauce hasn’t reduced, and cook for additional 5 mins
All together now!
Vary varies of greens, seeds, nuts, avocado, onions, and hot sauces to get a new bowl everything using the same base ingredients.
