This is a vegan poke bowl recipe for all you lovers of tofu, fresh veggies, and easy one-dish meal rice bowls! Citrusy pan-fried orange tofu goes fabulously well with a creamy tahini dressing fresh veggies, sweet orange sections on a bed of fragrant rice. Truly, if you’re looking for a delectable poke bowl recipe gone vegan, than look no further than this beautiful bowl of revitalizing tofu-y goodness.
What’s a poke bowl anyways?
A classic Hawaiian dish.
Apparently, poke (poh-kay) means “to slice or cut” in Hawaiian, referring specially to the way in which you prepare the protein in this meal. Typically and traditionally, poke bowls have a base of fragrant rice upon which sit some chunks of marinaded seafood, surrounded with a variety of fresh vegetables and topped with some kind of zippy dressing.
For the purposes of this vegan poke bowl recipe, the sliced and marinaded protein will be pressed and cubed slabs of tofu.
I would recommend extra firm tofu for this recipe, as it tends to hold up the best when marinaded and pan-fried. A great brand is Extra Firm Nasoya Tofu, or something similar.
So what’s in this vegan poke bowl recipe?
The Base
Obviously, what better base to this vegan poke bowl recipe than brown basmati rice. I love the aroma, the taste and texture of this kind of rice in particular. However, you can use pretty much any kind of rice that you’d like, or another grain that’s finer like quinoa.
The Protein
As mentioned above, the sliced and marinaded protein in this vegan poke bowl recipe will be tofu.
Tofu is often a centerpiece protein in vegan meals, and this one is no different. A well prepared piece of tofu can carry a dish almost on its own, but you have to know how to work with it for tofu to be truly delicious.
The most important thing about preparing firm or extra-firm tofu is to press it for about 30 minutes before use. This will rid the curd of excess water. Then, you have to find some way to impart flavor into the tofu. In this recipe, the light orange-soy marinade will do the trick.
The Marinade
Because this is a traditionally Hawaiian dish, I wanted to use a sweet and citrusy fruit, and what better than orange? The sweet citrus of the orange and sour of the lime mixed with tamari, rice wine vinegar, and a little chili powder makes a surprisingly effective marinade.
The Dressing
After removing the tofu from the marinade in order to pan fry it, I mix the remainder of the liquid with raw tahini paste to create a lavish, creamy and beautiful dressing to pour over top the entire bowl.
The Fresh Veg
This is the fun, colorful and decorative part of the dish. You can pretty much use whatever you want and whatever is fresh. The particular combination of veggies and fruits that I used are as follows:
- Fresh kale, snipped with scissors into edible ribbons
- Fresh bell pepper: red, yellow, or orange – your choice!
- Freshly grated carrot
- Cherry tomatoes
- Orange sections
But find your own combination, if you wish!
Should I Make This Poke Bowl?
Of course!
It’s super easy, as the only cooking you have to do is for the tofu, while the bulk of the work involves preparing the fresh vegetables.
On top of that, there are infinite variations on this dish, and whatever fresh veggies you have available are likely to work, especially with the creamy orange-tahini dressing, which compliments most fresh vegetables very well.
So give this a shot! It’s delightfully tasty, colorful and straight-forward.
Orange Tofu Poke Bowl
Ingredients
For the Marinade/Dressing
- ¼ cup orange juice, about 1 medium orange
- ½ tablespoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoons low sodium tamari
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 ½ – 2 tablespoons raw tahini paste, blended with the remaining marinade after tofu has been removed.
For the Poke Bowl
- 1 (14-ounce) package extra-firm tofu, pressed for 30 minutes
- 1 – 2 tablespoons tablespoons olive oil
- ½ – 1 bunch of kale, de-ribbed and snipped with scissors into small bits
- 1 large carrot, grated
- ½ red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
- Some cherry tomatoes, halved
- Some orange Sections
- 1 – 2 cups brown basmati rice, cooked
Instructions
- Press the tofu for 30 minutes. Then, cut the tofu into decently sized slabs and marinade the slabs in the orange juice, tamari, rice wine vinegar and chili powder for 15 – 30 minutes, or longer for more flavor.
- While the tofu is marinading, prepare the brown rice and also prepare the fresh veggies. Note: you can also use instant rice to make this recipe more quickly, but freshly cooked rice is best.
- When the rice is 15 minutes or so from being done, pan fry the tofu in a skillet with olive oil over medium heat, about 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden brown and firm.
- After all the tofu has been removed from the marinade, in a blender combine 2 tablespoons of raw tahini paste with the leftover marinade, adding more orange juice, tamari, and rice wine vinegar to taste if need be. Blend until all the ingredients are well combined to create a creamy sauce.
- Assemble the poke bowl by laying down the rice, then the fresh veggies, then the tofu, and top with the tahini sauce.
Nutrition
If you enjoyed this vegan poke bowl recipe, please leave a comment and recipe rating before you go.
Similarly, check out this Guajillo Chili Bowl for another great one-dish meal that’s 100% plant-based.
May you have good food in good company,
That Vegan Nephew
Lastly, consider subscribing to the blog to be notified of future recipes directly via email. I will never send you spam, and you can unsubscribe at any time!
Leave a Reply