Creamy Tomato Rice & Garlic 'Butter' Roasted Chickpeas

First of all, HAPPY HOLIDAYS everyone!!! :) *tomorrowisChristmas!!!*

Here's a nice quote for you all:

"Christmas is not so much as opening presents, as opening our hearts!"

So, the story behind this dish...

I actually wanted to make this with pasta noodles BUT I only realised I'm out of pasta after I started making the sauce hahah, so I ended up using rice instead! And it turned out pretty good! ;)

And the chickpeas! Aaah, I think roasting is the best way to cook chickpeas! I also have another recipe for roasted chickpeas here.

Quick & Easy SWEET & SPICY Rice Bowl

Okay sooooo, I think it's time for a new rice bowl recipe!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately ahah, don't really have much time to cook on school days because I arrive home kinda late.. I think I can post a lot more during the holidays so stay tuned! ;)

This dish is SUPER easy & quick to make (like all my recipes :p), and tastes amazing of course! Also, you can adjust the level of 'spiciness' of this dish by playing around with the ratio of chili-tomato sauce. Feel free to use more/less of those to taste!

As usual, use whatever veggies/type of rice that you like/have on hand! For me, I used white rice, and broccoli + zucchini for the veggie part! I also added some beans because they're delicious & as a daily dose of protein haha!

Oh and, I topped mine with Indonesian sweet & spicy cassava chips (plus more after photo hehe), you can top yours with any chips you like or simply skip it! :)

ROASTED Sweet Miso Chickpeas & Spiced Broccoli

Let me present to you..... My new FAVOURITE way to cook CHICKPEAS!!!

Sweet & salty miso flavour, crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, oh boy it's just so good!

And the broccoli... Let's just say that roasted broccoli >>>>> steamed/stir fried broccoli. :p

I served mine alongside heaps of freshly steamed rice and (my current obsession) purple beet chips!

But you can serve it however you like! (or with whatever ingredients you have left in the fridge lol)

Curry Rice with Teriyaki Roasted Tempeh + Purple Chips + Kimchi Stir Fry

Here comes another RAINBOW dish!!!

Super amaziiiiinggggg Teriyaki Roasted Tempeh, Purple Chips, and Kimchi Stir Fry served on a bed of delicious and fragrant curry spiced rice (which was SUPER DUPER EASY to make, I promise! *you'll see later below hahaha)

The combination of flavours, textures, colours, and aroma makes this dish extremely pleasing!

Tempeh is a really good source of vegan protein! And I personally think it tastes better than its cousin tofu (the texture/taste is totally different)! :p Roasting is definitely my favourite way to cook tempeh! When the marinade/seasoning seeps into the tempeh, and when it gets nicely crisp & caramelised in the oven, YUM. Oh and also, you can use any greens that you have on hand for the stir fried veggies!

Spicy Asian FIRE Roasted Tofu

I hope I succeeded in making you hungry with this…

How good does that look omg? A PILE of rice (its red rice btw), stir-fried veggies, with the star of the show: Spicy Asian Fire Roasted Tofu. That's right, mmm, tofu never looked (and tasted) this good!

You can make it more/less spicy by adjusting the hot sauce (see recipe below), but I urge you to challenge yourself! At least don't reduce the amount of hot sauce written, and you can use more if you're brave! :p I like to use either Gochujang (Korean) or Sriracha (Thai) for my hot sauce!

Also, this is just for 1 serving as a side dish, feel free to make more to share/as a main! ;)

EASY Vegan Potato & Chickpea Curry

I haven't made curry in quite a while, so glad I did today!

A HUGE bowl of delicious curry with freshly steamed rice for lunch, anyone? :p

A splash of coconut milk adds a wonderful (and authentic-ish) taste & aroma that takes everything to a whole new level, so do not skip that! A bit of fat occasionally on a high carb diet won't hurt!

Also, a lot of people ask me how many serving the recipes on this blog are for, the answer is, 1 serving (for me hehe). But feel free to make more/less depending on your appetite! (note: especially if you're new to the high carb vegan lifestyle and still not used to eating lots of food)

Now let's move on to the recipe! <3

SUPER EASY Black Bean, Corn, Veggie Rice

Another rice dish!!! Seriously so good and easy to make! I'll never get bored of making rice dishes (plus so many exciting combos can be made)! A lot of people ask me what food I like to bring to school, rice dishes are definitely my favourite to pack!

This time I used some steamed broccoli, garlic & curry seasoned black beans, boiled corn on the cob, along with some brown rice. As for the sauce, its a sweet & spicy tomato sauce! Talk about YUM.

*See the ver.1 here*

Teriyaki Roasted Tofu & Tomato Basil Rice

I've always been obsessed with anything teriyaki-sauce since I was little. Me and my little sister always chose teriyaki dishes in Japanese restaurants when we were kids *before we fell in love with sushi ;)*

This time I decided to make a vegan, lower in sodium, lower in fat teriyaki dish! And it turned out amazingly delicious! I hope you guys can try it out and love it as much as I do!

Vegan Coconut Curry Rice with Roasted Potatoes

I hope you guys are not bored with my 'rice dishes' yet… Because I really love making them hahah! I think they're really easy and quick to make, also tastes good and has lots of good plant-based carbs and protein (if you use beans!). Pretty much my dinner most nights…

Potatoes + Rice may seem like a weird combo, but I think they taste really nice together! Plus both of them are the most common ingredient in any vegan's kitchen (you should have em in your kitchen too!!). Cheap, delicious, and good for you, why not?

VEGAN Bean Chili Veggie Rice

Rice and beans is probably one of the best rice combinations ever! Of course, lots of colourful vegetables added in for extra nutrients (and taste)!

I actually didn't know what a 'chili' dish is before I was active on instagram. A lot of my friends post this tomato-bean-kinda dish that is served with rice and they call it chili (I thought it was spicy because chili is… you get the idea :p) but turns out it's not, it's filled with beans, vegetables, spices, and tomato sauce (traditionally people add meat but NOT me hahah, vegan brah!)

Then I thought, why not just mix the rice into the dish? So that way you'll get an equal ratio of chili : rice in every bite! Life hacks! So good mmm...

Indonesian Style 'Fried' Rice (VEGAN, NO OIL)

Today I have a very special recipe for you guys!

I'm going to share one of my all-time FAVOURITE rice dishes ever! Which is 'fried' rice! But my fried rice dishes have NO OIL added (which is super awesome for high carb low fat vegans, or anyone really). Now, there are a lot of fried rice 'styles' out there, Chinese style (more savoury, garlic-cky), Japanese style (teriyaki sauce most of the time), and Indonesian style which is very popular (sweet, usually spicy but that's optional!). So! The first fried rice recipe that I'm going to share here is going to be the Indonesian style one! ;)

I used tempeh, broccoli, and mushrooms today but you can use anything that you want (leftover veggies work really well!). Though you should use tempeh for a more authentic Indonesian taste though! Either way works, because what makes this special is the SAUCE!

PINK Beet Veggie Red Bean Rice

If you follow my blog/instagram, you'll probably notice already that I have a kind of obsession with vibrant and colourful food! And this dish is no exception! Rice never looked this good right?? ;)

For pink foods, I like to use beetroot for savoury, and pitaya/dragonfruit for sweet stuff! Both gives a really awesome colour boost and of course, nutrition! What are your favourite 'pink' foods?

Another advantage to vibrant, colourful food is it makes it really attractive and fun to eat (a good way to disguise vegetables!!), perfect for picky kids who hates veggies! This trick works really well with a lot of kids that I know of!

This dish is also a very well-balanced meal, lot's of rice to carb up! Vegetables for vitamins and minerals, and red beans for protein (vegans can get protein mmm has)!

Vegan Sushi Tutorial WITHOUT Sushi Roll Mat (shape variations + sushi rice recipe + filling ideas)

I think the BEST way to enjoy rice and veggies = SUSHI! They're just sooooo fun to make (and eat, of course), not to mention pleasing for the eyes ;)

There are endless options too! You can use white/brown/red/black rice, you can fill it with whatever you want (or whatever you have left in the fridge), use your creativity!

However, I've seen a lot of recipes online that doesn't 'season' the rice! Authentic, good sushi means the rice is seasoned = sushi rice. That's why when you go to a Japanese sushi restaurant, the sushi rice will have a slightly sweet-sour taste that makes it special! Otherwise it will be like you're eating plain rice + veggies + seaweed. Not bad, but not that good either! Below you'll find my 'healthy-fied' version of sushi rice!

Vegan Rainbow Rice Bowl (ver.1)

I never knew that sweet potato fries and rice would make such a delicious combo together! This makes such a great RawTill4 dinner! Mmm all those good carbs, get in ma belly!!!

I always try to make my food colourful, because variety on what you eat is very important! All those colourful vegetables have different nutrient profiles, so eating a variety of colours will help you get all the nutrients that you need! Plus it's just eye candy right? Nutritious + Colourful food = Perfect.

For rice bowl version one, I topped my bowl of freshly steamed rice with my favourite crispy sweet potato fries, balsamic roasted beets, and boiled edamame beans.

I get this question a lot, "Where do vegans get their protein from?" and the answer is…

CRISPY Baked Fries + Vegan Ketchup

 

Did you hear that? Delicious, "CRISPY" (healthy, fat-free) FRIES that are baked in the oven! Paired with a super-awesome vegan ketchup?!

Mmm… it's just oh-so-good even though it doesn't have any added fat or chemicals!

As for the seasoning, this time I seasoned mine with some dried herbs & spices. But feel free to use any other seasoning/spice mix that you like!