Olive Food

While growing vegetables and sharing delicious meals together at Growing Eden, we tend to talk a lot about food. A few weeks back, my dear coworker was telling me about this meal she made for her friends for a dinner party, and called the dish the ‘Glory Bowl’, filled with sautéed tofu, brown rice and fresh veggies. It sounded so delicious I was astounded that I had never heard of it before, and I had to know what it was all about.

Before I go into my take on the this delightful dish, I must tell you a story.

I love tofu.

I could eat it every day, in any dish and even raw straight out of the package.

One day though last year, I ate it 3 times… for lunch, for snack, and then again for dinner. I don’t know what it was, or if it was even the tofu, but I felt so ill by the end of the day.

I didn’t eat tofu again for at least 3 months.

This fateful day was one of the bright days where Paulo actually liked the tofu dish I made for dinner, and I was ecstatic!

Since then, Paulo has gone from “Eww, I am not eating that @#$%” to  purchasing, marinating, and cooking tofu himself.

Wow! 

Then I told him excitedly about the ‘Glory Bowl’.

“Wait, the veggies aren’t cooked? That’s weird. Nope, not going to happen.”

And even today, as I am making my ‘Garden Bowl’, he is suspicious of this half cooked dish.

The dish I am making today is filled with brown rice, raw veggies, lettuce and arugula from my garden, golden brown tofu, and topped with crunchy sliced almonds and garden-fresh cilantro (because I’m one of the lovers of this herb).

I am calling it the ‘Garden Bowl’ because it is full of fresh veg from our community garden, and you can really put anything from your own home garden into it and it will be equally delicious.

It turned out that Paulo actually really liked this dish, especially the dressing, and I am going to happily put it on our summertime dinner rotation.

What garden fresh veggies would you put in your ‘Garden Bowl’?

The Garden Bowl

(Adapted from the Glory Bowl by Whitewater Cooks)

You can really add in any of your favourite vegetables, so I’ve just given an outline of what to include so you can create your own masterpiece. The bolded options are the ones that I chose to use today. But what really makes this dish come together is the dressing!

2 cups brown rice, cooked (1 cup uncooked rice generally)

2/3 block of compressed or extra firm tofu, in 1/2 – 1 inch cubes

2 tbsp cooking oil (we use a blend of olive oil and canola)

1 cup leafy greens, chopped (spinach, kale, Swiss chard, arugula, lettuce)

1/2 cup carrots, grated (1 carrot)

1/2 cup beet, grated  (1/2 a large beet)

1/4 cup fresh herbs, chopped or whole (cilantro, mint or basil would be great additions)

1/4 cup toasted nuts or seeds (pumpkin seed, almonds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, cashews)

Dressing

1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes

1/3 cup Tamari or soy sauce

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup water

2 tbsp tahini (I didn’t have this, so I used ground black sesame seeds instead)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1-1/2 cups vegetable oil (we use olive oil when eating it raw)

1. In a blender mix together all dressing ingredients except the oil.
2. Add oil in a steady stream (carefully and not on pulse mode or you will have dressing everywhere) while blender is on. Set aside.
3. In a medium sized pan, heat to medium high and put 1 tbsp oil in pan.
4. Sauté half of the tofu until all sides are golden brown. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with the other half of the tofu.
5. To assemble the dish, place brown rice at the bottom, then top with carrots, beets, greens, herbs and nuts or seeds. Drizzle on dressing at the last minute before serving.

Serves 2, with a ton of extra dressing to toss with your salads or grilled veggies throughout the week

Note: You can either assemble the dish in individual bowls, or one large bowl to serve at the table family style.

Idea: How fun and pretty would it be to have Swiss chard, grated rainbow carrots and golden or candy cane beets?