Forbidden Rice, Tempeh and Vegetable Power Bowls
Looking for a delicious way to get more vegetables into your diet? This vegan recipe has you covered! Forbidden Rice Tempeh and Vegetable Power Bowls are packed with veggies, protein, and flavor, for a delicious dinner with plenty of leftovers for lunch.
I’m gonna bet that one of your goals for this year is to eat more vegetables. Am I right? If it’s not a goal, it should be! Vegetables are quite possibly the healthiest thing we can all eat, AND the thing that most of us don’t eat enough of.
I’m guilty too. I’ll take fruit over vegetables any day, because like the rest of the world, I prefer sweet over savory – and fruit is just easier. Throw an apple or banana in your lunch bag; Slice up a pear and slather on some almond butter; add a handful of berries to your oats… EASY.
But vegetables need all that peeling, trimming, and something to make them taste delicious. So here’s what you should do.
One day this week, cut up a head of broccoli (and cauliflower while you’re at it), peel a whole pound of carrots and cut them into bite-sized pieces, trim up some celery and peapods, slice up an onion, mince up a few cloves of garlic, and just stem and wash any leafy greens, and wrap them in paper a long sheet of paper towel.
Seriously – if you spend about 20 minutes doing that, you’ll have a week’s worth of vegetables ready to roll. It’s called meal prep, and it’s the BEST way to save yourself some serious time throughout your workweek and get more veggies into your diet every day.
Most of those vegetables can go right into this super-simple stir fry dinner. It features (in addition to the vegetables), black, forbidden rice, which is jam-packed with antioxidants, and it just looks so pretty and exotic. It’s really more of a dark purple than black.
I order the Forbidden Rice Bowl from my favorite Scottsdale fast-casual restaurant, Flower Child, almost every time I stop in for dinner. I know – I’m boring that way, but I really, really love it. This recipe is my copycat attempt.
I often get it with shredded chicken, but I’m keeping it vegan here with some tempeh (It’s the super-high protein cousin to tofu). Hope you like it as much as I do!
Forbidden Rice Tempeh and Vegetable Power Bowls
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Asian chili garlic sauce more or less to taste
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 8 oz package organic tempeh
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 1/2 cups broccoli trimmed and cut into florets
- 3/4 cup snap peas ends trimmed
- 1/2 large onion sliced thin
- 1 1/2 cup bok choy leaves and stems, sliced
- 2 large carrots cut into very thin rounds
- 3/4 cup Forbidden Rice cooked
- tamari or soy sauce optional
Instructions
- Mix together the Hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce, and water, and set aside.
- Place the tempeh in a small sauce pan, with enough water to just about cover. Steam the tempeh for about 3 minutes. Drain.
- Heat the olive and sesame oils in a sauté pan, over medium high heat.
- Add the broccoli, snow peas, onion, bok choy and carrots to the pan and saute for about 8-10 minutes until vegetables are tender.
- Crumble the steamed tempeh into the vegetable mixture.
- Add the sauce mixture to the pan, and reduce the heat to low.
- Add the rice, and stir to combine everything and heat through for about 3-5 minutes. Add more water if the sauce seems too thick.
- Taste, and season with tamari or soy sauce if desired.
Nutrition
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How are you doing on your goal to add more vegetables to your meals?
If you make this, tag me on Instagram @CravingSomethingHealthy and let me see!
Eat well!
Is this inspired from Flower Child’s forbidden rice bowl? I’m very excited to try it!
Yes it is! It’s one of my favorite meals there and I’ve missed eating there SO much this past year! Enjoy 🙂
Thank you! I tried it and loved it!!! Really appreciate that you put out this wonderful recipe! We are finally getting a Flower Child in Gilbert this year. I am more than excited!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Flower Child is the BEST! Gilbert gets all the good restaurants 🙂
This looks super tasty!! I can’t wait to give it a try! It’s all delicious ingredients 🙂
Thanks so much Roslia! I hope you enjoy it!
While your recipe sounds delicious. (I put it on our menu this week) Your lead picture with the chopsticks standing in the bowl is in poor taste. It is considered disrespectful in both Japan and and China since it reminds people of funeral traditions.
Hi Christy, my apologies for the chopsticks but thanks for letting me know. I just did that to fill the space above the photo! I’m going to have to reshoot this recipe with a fork instead.
This looks delicious! And easily modifiable for meat eaters and non meat eaters!
Thanks Kelli! Yes, it’s one of those recipes that you can easily add what you have on hand and tailor to your personal taste. Thanks for stopping by!