So I am a lover of Pinterest and I really enjoy browsing it for meals to include in our meal plans and to try out different stuff. I love hunting for food on Pinterest so much that I have actually had to put a limit on myself for the amount of time I look for and think about food. it’s a bit random, but I need to look for craft projects and house/garden inspiration too.
It was when I was indulging myself in a bit of food port that I came across a delicious looking and sounding recipe from Oh My Veggies, called “Peanutty Quinoa bowls for two“. Firstly it caught my attention because one of my favouritest things in the whole wide world is marinated and baked tofu (I call them steaks) as they have such a delicious texture and flavour and can go with so many different dishes. Then I remembered how much I love quinoa (the wonderful protein filled grain) and last but not least peanuts! This was going to be a great dish to add to the meal plans.
Anyhoo, away from my drooling and onto my take on the recipe!
The thing about baking tofu is that it gives it a firmer texture (hence my calling it steak) and can be marinated with all kinds of sauces, herbs, spices and mixes. For this recipe, I used marinade of soy sauce, Yorkshire Sauce (which is a vegetarian alternative to Worcestershire sauce), cider vinegar, crushed garlic and grated fresh ginger. It gave it a lovely oriental type flavour with the delicious tang of the Yorkshire sauce.
Quinoa adds a lovely nutty flavour and texture of its own to this dish and is a perfect alternative to rice in many of your favourites. I became a total convert to quinoa when I broke my ankle lat year and while I was off my feet took to a high protein (for speedy healing) low carb diet (to save me getting chubby during recover!)
I have adapted the original recipe because I wanted to serve four people (well, two of us for our evening meal and then two leftovers for lunch the next day)
Ingredients
1 red pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 medium red onion, diced
1 head of broccoli, stem diced, top broken into florets (you’ll see that I included any leaves that were attached to the broccoli too – nothing goes to waste)
1.5 cups of quinoa, rinsed
two packs of firm tofu, pressed for 30 minutes then each quartered
For the marinade:
3 tbsp low salt soy sauce
1 tbsp Henderson’s Relish Yorkshire Sauce
5 cm piece of fresh ginger grated
3 garlic cloves crushed
Method
make up the marinade and slice each block of tofu into four slices
add the tofu to the marinade and leave for 30 minutes, turning one at the 15 minute mark
rinse the quinoa and add to pan, a pinch of salt and 2.5 coups of water
stir through, bring to the boil then reduce to a medium low simmer, cover and leave for 10 minutes before removing from the heat and leaving covered while you sort the rest of the food
meanwhile, tun on the oven to 200C and prepare a baking tray by spraying it with a little oil
dice all the veggies (except for the broccoli florets which you want to break into bite sized pieces)
pour a dash of olive oil into a large pan and bring up the heat
add the veggies and stir occasionally until they become tender
remove the tofu from the marinade and lay onto the baking sheet
place the tofu and baking sheet onto the middle shelf of the oven and leave for 30 minutes turning once
when the veg are tender, add the broccoli florets along with 1/3 cup of water, cover the pan immediately to let the broccoli steam
pour the tofu marinade into a small food processor along with the zest and juice of a line and the peanut butter, blitz until smooth
fluff up the quinoa and divide between two bowls and two lunch boxes
mix the dressing into the vegetable mixture then spoon it over the four dishes
then place two pieces of the baked tofu onto each dish
crush a cup of peanuts roughly in a pestle and mortar and scatter over the dishes
serve with hot sauce
lid up the lunch boxes when they have cooled and pop in the fridge for the next day
