What on earth is a Vegan Power Bowl? Is it like the American Super Bowl but Vegan? Is it the source of all things green? Is it a vegan power up?
Who knows? We don’t and we named it! (We should probably have a word with our recipe naming department)
What we do know, is that it is full of wholesome and tasty ingredients, brought together with a banging sauce by our friend Mei, who makes delicious sauces inspired by her native Hong Kong and her travels around the world.
Of course, you could use almost any sauce in place of Mei’s Dan Dan sauce. A black bean sauce, some katsu curry sauce or a peanut satay sauce would work well here too. (Just make sure it is a yummy sauce!)
The point of the power bowl is to create a base: we like to use a half/half mixture of long grain rice & quinoa. Then add lots of fresh green vegetables, some gorgeous mushrooms, and some nuts for crunch and added extra protein & flavour. The sauce is the – er– secret– to bringing the whole together to make it a tasty, easy meal.
Now, don’t be scared about cooking the rice and quinoa mix. There’s a trick to it that once you master, you will have forever. (It’s the same method to create perfect fluffy rice. )
It goes like this:
- Use roughly 90g of dry rice/quinoa per person. (about half a cup)
- Rinse it, then put it into a saucepan- flatten it out a bit.
- Now, CAREFULLY add water so when you put the tip of you pointer finger gently on top of the rice the water comes up to your first knuckle.
- Put the saucepan on the hob and add a lid. (the lid is CRUCIAL. Do not remove the lid until you are finished cooking!)
- Bring the water & rice to the boil and let boil for 5 mins.
- Take the heat down looooowwww as you can and let it simmer for a further 10 mins.
- Turn the heat off and leave the rice for another 15 mins. DON’T PEAK. Not even a bit!
- Stop.
- I SAID DO NOT PEAK!!
- If you peak, you let all the lovely steam out and the rice & quinoa won’t be cooked.
- Now. When the 15 mins are up, you can look.
- Fluff it up with a fork and serve!
You could of course use a rice cooker or whatever for the same results. But what would be the fun in that?
Anyhoo.. here’s the method & recipe for the whole Vegan Power Bowl: Feel free to change the mushrooms, add other greens, make it your own! It’s endlessly versatile.
After all. Vegan’s have Super Powers.
A delicious bowl of goodness, brought together by a super sauce!
- 80 g basmati rice
- 80 g quinoa
- 2 large King Oyster Mushrooms
- handful other mushrooms- we used enoki & girolle but use ordinary chestnut mushrooms
- 6 stalks sprouting Broccoli
- 1 pointy red pepper
- 4 spring onions
- 1/2 cup cashew nuts
- 2 Tbsp sesame seeds
- 3-4 Tbsp Dan Dan sauce (we used Mei's Homemade) OR other good quality, pre made Asian style sauce- eg satay
- scant 1 tbsp nuetral oil such as sunflower
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Steam the rice and quinoa - either use a rice steamer or see my instructions in the post above
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In a dry frying pan, toast the nuts and sesame seeds until golden. Set aside.
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Score the king oyster mushrooms in a cross hatch. Brush with oil and a little bit of whatever sauce you are using.
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In the same frying pan as you used for the nuts, sautee all the mushrooms until they are cooked and the oyster mushroom is browned on each side. Set Aside
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Add a tiny bit of oil to the frying pan and sautee the brocolli, red pepper & spring onions (If you are using any other greens or veggies, add here!) Add a little bit of sauce to everything.
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In two bowls, divide the rice.
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Arrange the mushrooms over the rice. Then add the greens.
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Splodge some more sauce over it.
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Then sprinkle over the nuts and sesame seeds and serve.
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Serve extra nuts, seeds and sauce on the side for extra yummyness
The great thing about this recipe is that you can customise it with all kinds of veggies. Red peppers, edamame, peas or beans would all be delicious too!
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