I just discovered that I haven’t blogged aboot the delicious rice bowl I had at fresh on bloor last summer in Toronto. It was mind blowing, it’s known as the power house rice bowl, and it has grilled tofu steaks, chickpeas, red onions, tomato, nuts, seeds, sunflower sprouts, and the most amazing tahini dressing in the world.
It was so good I had to buy the cookbook, Fresh at Home, which is the second of three cookbooks by Ruth Brown and Jennifer Houston, the co-owners of the Fresh chain of restaurants. We had made this rice bowl ourselves a couple of times, and it always satisfies, and I tend to get carried away with shoving it into my face.
We recently branched out and tried another recipe from the book, the Ninja Rice Bowl (also available at the restaurants). It has a wasabi-dill dressing for the rice, some mixed greens, the obligatory sunflower sprouts, and the most amazing crispy tofu! We had pea sprouts, and replaced the marinated sun-dried tomato with avocado and fresh tomato.
Marinated Tofu Cubes
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
3/4 c. tamari
1/4 c. water
1+1/2 Tbsp. sunflower oil (any vegetable oil is fine)
1 block extra firm tofu (350g) cut into small cubes (about 72, LengthxWidthxHeight –> 6×4x3)
Mix the ingredients together in a suitably sized tupperware container, add the tofu and let sit for at leat 15 minutes, stirring at least once to ensure all cubes get a chance to be submerged. It’s essential to have small tofu cubes so the marinate penetrates them.
Crispy Tofu Coating
1 c. nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 c. wheat germ
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a bowl or container, toss the marinated cubes in and shake them around to coat completely. Fry on medium heat with a small amount of olive oil until browned on all sides. The marinade will keep for 3 days, and the coating keeps forever, so I’ve been popping out a few marinated cubes and tossing them in the coating when I need them, they are much better if they are freshly fried :)
They are simply fantastic, I encourage you to make them and discover how delicious they are, please post a comment if you find something they go well with, it will be a good excuse for me to make some more and try out your creation.
By the way I halved the recipes for both the marinade and the tofu coating and it was perfect for one block of tofu.
right on for pimping out fresh & TO… but dude… watch those avocado & tofu portions!