Last night we had Buddha bowls with spicy chilli sauce. I used Chinese cabbage from our allotment, and a really good seitan “beef” from Kristin at Beans and Greens.

However, since I’ve blogged about the spicy chilli sauce before, tonight’s post is about Buddha bowls with black bean sauce that I made a couple of weekends ago. The sauce is easy to make and does not have any of the chemicals with big long names that are often in store-bought sauces.

To make it, you’ll need Chinese fermented black beans, which are actually fermented and salted soya beans. I bought a bag a couple of years ago for less than a quid, and there is still plenty left (it keeps a long time).

This sauce is quite strong and salty, so you may want to make some adjustments if you don’t like salty sauces.

You can substitute tempeh or seitan for the tofu, although I think tofu works best for this sauce because of its neutral flavour.

Buddha bowls with black bean sauce

1. First, make the sauce. Crush the garlic in a mortar and pestle. Rinse the black beans, then add them to the mortar and crush them with the garlic until you have a paste. In a small saucepan, heat one tablespoon oil over low heat. Gently fry ginger and black bean/garlic mixture for a minute or so. Add bouillon cube and mash to break it up. Reserve two tablespoons of water and pour the rest into the saucepan. Add soy sauce, sherry, sugar & pepper, and bring sauce to a simmer. Mix reserved water with cornflour (cornstarch), then add to simmering sauce and cook until thickened. Keep warm.

2. Cut veggies into bite-size pieces, and set aside.

3. Heat a large wok (I use cast iron) over medium heat. Saute fried tofu until heated through, then remove and keep warm.

4. Increase heat to medium-high. Add one tablespoon oil to wok. Lightly salt the oil, then stir-fry veggies until crisp-tender. Periodically, add a tablespoon of water to create steam and help soften the veggies.

5. When everything is cooked, put rice (or noodles or quinoa) into bottom of two large bowls. Top with veggies and tofu, then with sauce.

Makes two servings.

This has become another of our favourite sauces for Buddha bowls. It’s spicy and garlicky and very more-ish.

The sauce is loosely based on one for Ma Po Tofu.

Cauldron’s marinated tofu pieces were used for the protein part of the dish, though you could fry your own tofu or use tempeh or seitan instead.

The chilli bean paste we use is made by Amoy: Toban Jhan Chilli Bean Paste. It’s got a wonderful complex flavour that we both just love. We bought it from our local Chinese market. You can read more about chilli bean paste, and substitutions, here.

1. First, make the sauce. In a small saucepan, heat one tablespoon oil over low heat. Gently fry garlic and chilli until fragrant (about one minute). Add chilli bean paste and continue frying for another minute. Then add bouillon cube and mash to break it up. Reserve two tablespoons of water and pour the rest into the saucepan. Add soy sauce and sugar, and bring sauce to a simmer. Mix reserved water with cornflour (cornstarch), then add to simmering sauce and cook until thickened. Keep warm.

2. Cut veggies into bite-size pieces, and set aside.

3. Heat a large wok (I use cast iron) over medium heat. Saute fried tofu until heated through, then remove and keep warm.

4. Increase heat to medium-high. Add one tablespoon oil to wok. Lightly salt the oil, then stir-fry veggies until crisp-tender. Periodically, add a tablespoon of water to create steam and help soften the veggies.

5. When everything is cooked, put rice (or noodles or quinoa) into bottom of two large bowls. Top with veggies and tofu, then with sauce.

Makes two servings.

Kristin at Beans & Greens blogged recently about Buddha bowls, and they looked so deelish that I simply HAD to try them myself.

Buddha bowls are like a deconstructed stir-fry… instead of mixing the veggies, tofu and sauce together like you would in a stir-fry, you prepare them separately, then arrange everything artfully together in a big bowl (my bowl is not that artful, I admit).

I was so into this idea that I bought bowls especially to use for this dish (but I can find lots of other uses for the bowls, honest… otherwise it wouldn’t be very thrifty of me, now would it?)

I was too lazy to make Kristin’s yummy-looking red coconut curry sauce and instead whipped up a simple ginger-garlic-soy sauce.

In case you’re wondering what those strange-looking things are to the left of the tofu in the photos, they’re something called vegetarian fuchou balls, which were in the freezer begging to be used. They are really nice and have a very interesting texture. (Hard to describe… firm but not in the same way seitan is… a bit springy but not rubbery. Yes I realise that description sucks.) I decided to use them at the last minute, and have not included them in the recipe below.

Buddha bowls are open to variations galore. Seitan or other faux meat could be used instead of tofu. Lots of different veggies would work well. And of course, the sauce could be coconut curry, black pepper, sweet and sour, peanut, black bean, etc. etc. You get the idea.

I served this with brown basmati rice, but eggless chow-mein noodles, rice noodles or udon noodles would be good as well, as would the completely un-Chinese option of steamed quinoa.

Buddha bowls with ginger-garlic-soy sauce

1. Cut tofu into 2.5cm (1″) cubes. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy skillet (I use cast-iron) over medium heat. Saute tofu cubes until golden on all sides. Remove from skillet and keep warm.

2. Cut veggies into more-or-less uniform pieces. In a large wok (I use cast-iron), heat two teaspoons of oil over medium-high heat. Lightly salt the oil, then stir-fry veggies until crisp-tender. Periodically, add a tablespoon of water to create steam and help soften the veggies.

3. Meanwhile, make sauce. In a small saucepan, heat one teaspoon oil over low heat. Gently fry ginger and garlic until fragrant but not browned (about one minute). Add bouillon cube and mash to break it up. Reserve two tablespoons of water and pour the rest into the saucepan. Add soy sauce and sesame oil, and bring sauce to a simmer. Mix reserved water with cornflour (cornstarch), then add to simmering sauce and cook until thickened. Keep warm.

4. When everything is cooked, put rice (or noodles or quinoa) into bottom of two large bowls. Top with veggies and tofu, then with sauce.

Makes two servings.