Chipotle Tofu Bowls? Heck yes I’m in! You all know by now that I love ‘bowl food’ and have probably caught on to my love of Mexican too (recent enchilada and tortilla soup posts might have hinted at this..). If you’ve really be paying attention you may also have noticed that I’m getting into the occasional serve of tofu too.

And I’m loving it! I’m still yet to branch out from cooking it in the same basic way I did in my satay tofu bowl, but it’s working for me and I’m scared to let go and fail. But I will. Soon. Let go I mean, I’m not aiming for failure it’s sometimes just a frequent accident…

My three favourite things about this recipe are 1, the sauce. It’s smoky and rich and yummmm! Second, the mere fact it involves guacamole. If you follow me on Instagram, (if not, why aren’t you?! Seriously, why do you not want to be bombarded with my images, recipes and inane comments all the time? hehe) you’ll notice I love avocado. In all it’s lovely forms. And the 3rd thing I absolutely love is just how many different veggies (and serves of them!) are in this meal: you’ve got kale, cabbage, carrot, (spring) onion, broccoli (it’s hiding in the green rice!), coriander and avocado (which is fruit I think but whatevs). Which brings me to something you might not love…

If you have a quick squizz at that ingredient list you might instantly close this tab and be like ‘nope, too many ingredients, too hard’. This recipe is not for everyone because like with most gloriously colourful bowls you see on Pinterest and the ‘gram – there’s a few different processes behind them. But I have good news! The food processor is your best mate in this recipe and with it’s help 1/2 the processes can be done with next to no effort. Read on for time saving tips, if you’re all gung ho and know you have most of the ingredients in your pantry already then you can skip the next paragraph or two! Actually, you go ahead and just read that recipe instead.

Now, the rest of you. In the order they appear in the recipe here’s where you can save time and cut ingredients. First up the chipotle sauce: if your pantry doesn’t have the listed spices then just blitz the water, chipotle peppers, garlic and coriander root and it will still taste fab.

Next, the slaw: If you have a food processor use it. Don’t cut a single thing. Put on the fine blade  slicing attachment for everything but the carrots and you’re done in a minute or two. Use the grater attachment for the carrots. The Rice: Just serve brown rice. I would highly recommend folding the yummy green things through and you already have all but the broccoli from making the slaw – but I get it if it’s one step to far. I won’t judge you, this is a safe place.

Now let’s cook!

Serves 4

Ingredients

400g Firm tofu

100g chipotle peppers in sauce

1 clove garlic

3 coriander roots, well cleaned

1 tsp cacao powder

1 tsp dried  oregano

1//4 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbs water

Slaw

1/4 red cabbage, finely shredded

1 tsp lime juice

pinch of salt

2 cups finely shredded kale

1 tsp olive oil

1 carrot, grated

1/3 cup finely chopped spring onion

1/3 cup coriander leaves

Guacamole

1 avocado

1 tsp lime juice

1/4 tsp garlic powder (optional)

1.2 tsp salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 Tbs finely chopped coriander

black pepper to taste

Rice

2 cups cooked brown rice

1/3 cup coriander leaves

1 small head of broccoli, stalk included

1/4 cup spring onion

2 tsp lime juice

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp dried oregano

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray.

Wrap tofu in absorbent paper or a cloth and press using something to weigh it down. Leave for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile make your chipotle sauce: Blitz the chipotle peppers and their sauce with the coriander roots, garlic, oregano, cacao, cinnamon and water in a mini food processor. Set aside.

Cut tofu into bite sized squares and lay in a single layer on your prepared tray. Bake for 20 minutes.

If your cooking the brown rice from scratch this is a great point to do that.

Take your baked tofu put it in a big bowl and toss it in the chipotle sauce. Leave to marinate for 5-15 minutes. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and place in a single layer on the lined baking tray again. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes. Set aside any remaining sauce.

Meanwhile make your slaw: Combine lime juice, salt and cabbage in a bowl and set aside. Massage olive oil into kale (laugh at the fact you’re actually doing this). Combine the cabbage and kale with all other slaw o=ingredients and set aside.

Make Guacamole: Mash half the avocado with other ingredients until smooth. Cut the other half into 1 cm chunks and stir through so you have a nice chunky guac. Set aside.

Make Green Rice: In a food processor blitz the coriander, spring onion and broccoli until very fine. Add the lime juice, salt, olive oil, and oregano and blitz again. Using a fork mix the green broccoli mixture through your brown rice.

Assemble bowls: Rice on the bottom topped with slaw, tofu and guac. Drizzle over you reserved chipotle sauce. Serve with a wedge of lime. Be happy.

HH. x