Dragon Rice Bowl with Marinated Tofu (& a merry ho-ho)

December 24, 2010 By Leanne Vogel July 22, 2015

Making gingerbread houses has to be my favourite activity of the Christmas season. I never eat any of the candy because 80% of it is made up of corn (allergy), but I just love coming up with new ways to decorate the house each year! I made a garden patch in the backyard of my gingerbread house and am pretty proud of it. I want to live in this house. Look at how fun it is! I may or may not have gone completely overboard with the candy for our houses this year. It’s so hard to tell how much is needed! During our first Christmas together, Kevin and I made gingerbread houses and have carried that tradition forward through the years. Each year though we’ve run out of candy so I made extra sure that that wouldn’t be the case this time around. This is just a section of what we had on the table…

And another section…

Kevin and his Mom, Renee, gave up on their houses after an hour into the project. I kept going and going and we still had mounds of candies left. We made the houses out of Kinnikinnick S’moreables graham crackers. They worked SO well and tasted fantastic (I made my house a little smaller just so I could eat my extra graham crackers). Renee and I had loads of fun in the kitchen prepping for tomorrow, making a couple of runs to the grocery store, snacking on salmon, walking the dogs, and dancing to Lady Sovereign.

We decided to call it a day at 9pm (we started at noon) so I could drop myself into my office chair to write this post, listen to CBC Radio2 – Classical, and sip a chamomile Yogi tea. Renee has a passion for Asian inspired foods so instead of making the traditional ‘Vogel Christmas Eve Dinner’ of steak, gravy and asparagus, I decided to switch things up. In our house tofu; or any soy for that matter, only comes out on very very special occasions due to its undeniable health effects (more on this in the coming days). For now though I leave you with this amazing creation and am off to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer 1964. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Dragon Rice Bowl with Marinated Tofu

Author: Leanne Vogel

Recipe type: Dairy-free, Egg-free, Gluten-free, Refined Sugar-free, Sugar-free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 4 servings

A different take on the traditional stir-fry with baked vegetables instead of fried. The tofu adds crunch and the rice gives the dish a warm coconut flavour.

Ingredients

Marinated Tofu

2 blocks of firm tofu or tempeh (tempeh is a healthier option but Superstore didn’t have any…)
¼ cup sesame oil
¼ cup braggs
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1 stalk lemongrass, diced
1 cup water

Coconut and Herb Rice

1 cup long grain brown rice
2.5 cups water
3 tablespoon coconut oil (unbleached, extra virgin is the best kind because it has a strong flavour. I use Nutriva)
½ teaspoon herbamare original

Dragon Toppings

1 tablespoon coconut oil
10 sweet tomatoes, sliced in half
1 zucchini, sliced diagonally
1 cup broccoli florets
3 green onions, diced
¼ cup cilantro
¼ cup sweet teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoon sesame seeds

Instructions

Directions
Cut tofu into ¼ inch thick slices and cut diagonally to make tofu triangles
Place tofu in a long glass container
In a small bowl combine sesame oil, braggs, ginger, lemongrass, and water
Pour sesame oil mixture over tofu, seal container and marinate in the fridge for 1-3 hrs
Drop coconut oil in rice cooker (or saucepan) once melted, add rice and water
Cover and cook (usually takes 45min)
Preheat oven to 375F
Spread coconut oil on the bottom of 2 cookie sheets
Lay vegetables on 1 tray and tofu on the other
Cook in oven for 20-25 minutes, rotating tofu after 10 minutes
Drop rice at the bottom of each dish and top with baked vegetables, tofu, cilantro, sesame seeds, and sweet teriyaki sauce