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Black-belt Bowl

Holy Moly this meal is a winner! Black bean noodles are a brill pasta or noodle replacement and taste so authentic. I love how rich in protein and fibre they are, plus the antioxidant content helps combat the oxidative stress of everyday wear and tear. Paired with a funky broccoli smash plus the totally addictive sweet and salty combo of coconut aminos-roasted almonds, pepitas and dates, this Black-belt Bowl is a nutrient-dense flavour bomb.

I made this for my mate Daina and she loved it! We are both absolute chatter boxes, but even we had to keep pausing our conversations to relish in the delishmo flavours. Give this quirky bowl a try – and don’t be afraid to make it your own!

You can swap the black bean noodles for mung bean fettuccine, the broccoli for cauliflower and switch up the nuts and seeds, and use raisins or dried cranberries instead of dates. As always, my recipes are here to use as a guide only, to inspire you to put your own unique flare on things and work with ingredients that YOU love.

Black Belt Bowl

Ingredients – serves 2

  • 2 serves of black bean noodles (most packs serve 4, so I recommend cooking up the whole lot, serving out as much as you want for two serves and keeping the rest for some epic leftovers creation the next day)
  • 2 serves of my turmeric and broccoli smash
  • 1/3 cup activated (see notes) or raw almonds (can sub for any other nut)
  • 1/3 cup activated (see notes) or raw pepitas (you can sub for any other seed, though toasted pepitas are magical – especially with the coconut aminos, so I highly recommend trying the recipe with them first before changing things up)
  • 6 organic dates, pitted and chopped
  • 1/4 cup coconut aminos (see notes)

Method

Prepare the noodles according to packet instructions and divide two serves among two serving bowls. Store the leftovers in a glass container in the fridge to use up within the next few days (you could make this dish again, or serve the noodles with your fave stir-fry or homemade pasta sauce).

Prepare the veggie smash as per recipe (just follow the link above) and divide mix among the two bowls. I love making extra of this and eating it for lunch the next day with some roast pumpkin cubes. If you want a break from olive oil, try macadamia oil in the dressing instead – so buttery and delicious! Also, if avos we in season you could totally dice one up and toss through the veggie is – this would be next level!

Finally, you have two options for making the coconut aminos trail mix topping. You can toss the dates, almonds and pepitas in the coconut aminos and roast on a baking tray in a 150 degree oven for 15 minutes or until nice and golden. Alternatively, you can place all ingredients in a frying pan over a medium heat and sauté until the trail mix is toasted and crispy. You can also do the frying pan method a few days in advance and store in a glass jar in the fridge, then heat up in the oven before serving. This is what I did and the results were fantastic!

Top your noodles and broccoli smash with a neat line (or messy sprinkle) of your trail mix and tuck in. Freakin YUM!

Notes

Coconut aminos is a soy sauce alternative made from fermented coconut nectar, chilli, garlic, onion and sea salt – it’s all kinds of wonderful. I am lucky enough to find this at my local Foodland supermarket but most health food stores stock it and you can easily purchase it online. It’s worth having on hand as it makes an ace marinade for some baked salmon or ocean trout as well.

Activated nuts/seeds just mean soaking the nuts in filtered water for anywhere between 4 (for softer nuts – thins cashews and macas) and 12 (for most other nuts and seeds) hours, then draining and rinsing. This removes the naturally occurring enzyme inhibitors that are contained in these foods (it’s part of their botanical defence mechanism). To crispy them up again, just roast at 150 degree C for 1/2 an hour or so or if you own a dehydrator, you can dry them out in there’s so that they’re technically still “raw”. If you forget or don’t have time to do this process, don’t stress too much, it’s not the end of the world and even a shorter soak will start to break down the phytates and what-not.