This Thai Buddha bowl is quick and easy to put together with heaps of fresh vegetables and crispy fried tofu served over coconut rice and topped off with a simple Thai peanut sauce with spicy red curry. Great for a weeknight dinner, these bowls come together in just 15 minutes!
I’m a super fan of Thai food. I love how you can get the perfect combination of sweet, sour, savoury and spicy all in one perfect mouthful. I’m especially fond of curries. They’re super quick to make and you have total liberty to throw whatever you want into them.
Anytime I have some leftover veggies hiding out in the back of my fridge, I just chop ‘em up and toss them in a pan with some coconut milk and whichever colour of curry paste takes my fancy.
And so was born this idea for the Thai Buddha bowl. I had some leftover purple cabbage from my raw vegan noodles and a few other odds and ends languishing in the back of the fridge, and as I just finished a roundup of the best 50 vegan bowl recipes, I put everything together into this Thai curry bowl.
The great thing about these vegan bowls is that you can cook the rice, chop all the vegetables, fry the tofu and prepare the sauce on Sunday and store it all away in the fridge to assemble yourself a bowl for a quick lunch later on in the week or pack it in your lunchbox and take it to work.
And, like any good vegan Buddha bowl, you can totally adapt this recipe to your tastes. Feel free to swap out any of the veggies for whatever you have on hand or try quinoa, freekeh, or rice noodles in place of the rice. Any way you choose to put it together, this Thai Buddha bowl will be a flavour sensation and keep you full for hours!
Got leftovers? Use them in these recipes:
Carrot, red cabbage, tomatoes: raw vegan noodles salad
Cilantro, mango, ginger: Samosa wraps with homemade mango chutney
Snow peas: Spring vegetable zoodles pasta
Wanna see how to make this Thai Buddha Bowl with Peanut Red Curry Sauce? Watch the video and share it on Facebook!
Thai Buddha Bowl with Peanut Red Curry Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups (260 grams) jasmine or basmati rice - $0.70
- 1 cup (240 ml) coconut milk - $0.69
- ½ teaspoon sea salt - $0.02
- 3 tablespoons oil divided - $0.16
- 2 small shallots finely diced - $0.25
- 2 cloves of garlic grated or minced - $0.16
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger - $0.10
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste - $0.27
- ½ cup (125 grams) peanut butter - $0.71
- ½ - ¾ cup (120 – 175 ml) warm water - $0.00
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari - $0.15
- 3 tablespoons lime juice - $0.75
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar - $0.03
- A block (about 14 oz / 400 grams) extra-firm tofu drained, pressed and cut into cubes - $1.49
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch - $0.08
- 1 medium-large carrot finely sliced - $0.11
- ¼ of a red cabbage shredded - $0.20
- 20 cherry tomatoes halved or quartered - $1.60
- 20 snow peas sliced in half $0.30
- 1 small mango diced - $0.99
- A small bunch of cilantro chopped - $0.20
- 4 tablespoons crushed peanuts - $0.91
Instructions
- Cook the rice according to the package directions. Once it’s cooked and while it is still warm, stir through the coconut milk and salt.
- While the rice is cooking prepare the sauce. Heat a medium pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil, the shallots, garlic and ginger and fry, stirring, until soft and fragrant. Add the curry paste and an additional tablespoon of oil if necessary and fry for a couple of minutes until the curry paste darkens in colour and is very fragrant. Put the curry paste in a bowl and add the peanut butter, ½ cup of the water, soy sauce, lime juice and brown sugar and mix until smooth. Add as much of the remaining ¼ cup of water as you want to reach a pourable consistency that you like.
- Put the cubed tofu in a plastic or ziplock bag with the cornstarch and shake it to coat. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the pan and fry the tofu, flipping from time to time, until it is golden brown and crispy on all sides. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Divide the rice between four bowls and top with the vegetables, cilantro and peanuts. Serve with the sauce on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
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Olga @ MangoTomato says
This looks incredible! Love the addition of mango. Your groceries definitely cost less than they do in Washington DC area 😉
Angie Feret says
This cost me about $25 to make a big batch here in Vancouver (where everything is really expensive) and I have loads of curry, coconut milk, rice, and veggies left over to make another meal.
So delicious, thanks for the recipe!
Melissa says
Great! Thanks for the feedback, so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Lisa says
Hi, any chance you have nutritional info ( calories, size of serving, fat, protein, sodium, carbohydrate etc)
Melissa says
I don't provide that information because I don't find the calculators to be accurate. I'm not comfortable putting that information on my site knowing that it's probably incorrect. There are many calculators online if you'd like to copy and past the recipe in. It's up to you which one you want to trust!
Angelica says
Hi! I have green curry paste and curry powder, will any of those do? It's what i have on hand. What's a good replacement for it? Looks great! Thanks
Melissa says
Sure, you can use green curry paste in the same way, it's just a little more spicy.
Lou says
It's good! Thanks a lot for this recipe *0*
Janessa says
This was fantastic. I will be keeping this one. I made everything and ate it semi warm. Which is nice that you don't have to worry about everything being ready at a certain time and certain temperature. Thanks it's going in the recipe book. I really like that most ingredients you will have on hand for the most part all the time.
Andrea says
This is my newly vegan family's favorite dinner! I use whatever veg I have at the time and they always love it. Roasted Cauliflower is my favorite addition.
sauvy says
I love it !!!
I am using this sauce for my stir fry and my veg.
Thank you sooooo much, it is delicious 🙂
Margaret Peters says
Thank you; we were delighted with all the flavours; the only thing I did different was I tossed all the sauce, vegetables and tofu together just before serving. Delicccciiioouuss, will definitely be making this again.
Dawn says
Great recipe. I used almond butter instead of peanut butter (had it in the fridge) and it worked out just fine.
Gayle says
Hi Melissa, thanks for the recipe. I can’t wait to try it. Just to let you know, your print button didn’t work for me...always like to print out a hard copy of the recipe I’m making. Could you check? Thanks!
Melissa says
I've tested the print button and didn't see any problem with it. Did you try refreshing the page and trying again? Not sure...
Sarah says
This is probably my favorite recipe of all time. I cook new recipes almost weekly, but Thai Curry + Peanut + Veggies + Coconut Milk = ALL of my favorites. I'm a slow chopper, so I feel like this is a time-consuming recipe due to all the components, but it's totally worth the time and effort!
Susan says
Melissa ... absolutely Devine! My family loved the heat from the curry. I love that it can be made from leftovers in the fridge. Wonderful!
Kate says
A recipe I keep coming back to again and again. Nice twist on the satay, I love that sauce with everything- rice paper rolls, Gato Gato ...Delicious!
Isabelle Gosselin says
Where in the world do you live? Unless it’s in the USA, I’m moving over there tomorrow. Your grocery is so cheap. I live close to Ottawa, Canada, and I have to multiply by 3 at least! That being said, your recipe is a keeper!
Lara says
Made this for my family, it was absolutely delicious! My sister said that it was the best thing she has ever had and she has been around.
Lynne Huntley says
Can almond milk be substituted for the coconut milk? I love it, but—- My husband is allergic to coconut
Melissa says
I would just leave it out in that case as serve over plain rice.
Juli says
Made this, delicious!
Dislike tofu so made it with chickpeas.
Garlic, red onion , olive oil sauteed
Then added to pan; coconut milk, red thai chili paste, peanut butter, soya sauce, brown sugar and simmered.
Poured over top of rice and drizzled over raw veggies topped with mango and sesame
Diane says
My kids loved this recipe as did I. We used soba noodles and the red curry paste from Minimalist Baker. thanks!
Sarah says
My mango wasn’t ripe yet, but this recipe was still delicious without it! Leftovers were great too. Took me more like an hour to make it. I’ll prep some of it on the weekend to make an easy weeknight dinner. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Julia says
I used stir fried broccoli and pepers instead of the mango, tomatoes and cucumber. One of the best dishes I haev ever made. I also used brown rice. Thank you!
Karen says
Excellent
Natalie Knudtson says
This might be the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Definitely in the top 5. Amazing!!
Nili says
Loved it
Suzanne says
This looks so good! I love that it has cost break down! Especially for those wondering if being vegan will cost too much!
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! What a great meal prep idea for the week!
Liana Roy says
Made this recipe for the first time tonight. It was a huge hit!! So delicious. I had medium tofu in the fridge and it still seemed to work nicely. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Adena says
I love this recipe! One of my favourites. It definitely takes longer to cook than noted, but I don't mind since it's so yummy 😁
Nell says
In addition to being oh so tasty this is also a beautiful meal with all the colors. I've made this several times. I tend to double up on the mango because I have mango lovers in my house and it goes fast. I also use twice as much curry paste because I love me some curry. I've made it with a green curry paste also and it's also delicious.
Lea says
Oh my... this looks like everything I love in one bowl. Thanks for this awesome recipe!