A super easy Japanese inspired donburi bowl recipe with BBQ pulled jackfruit. A nutritious and quick to prepare rice bowl topped with a variety of rainbow vegetables and protein - perfect for using leftovers and as a lazy-night meal
2cupsjackfruitBBQ pulled recipe linked below in instructions
3cupsvegetables1 Cup of vegetables, per portion. I used carrots, red cabbage, radish, cucumber and bean sprouts. However, you can swap these with any leftovers you have or your favourite veggies.
The first thing you want to do is to prepare the rice for cooking. Begin by rinsing the rice to get rid of the excess starch. The best way to do this is to rinse it until the water becomes clear. You can do this in a bowl or through a colander.
Leave the rice to soak in water for 30 mins ( then rinse again and drain after that time).
Meanwhile, as the rice soaks you can prepare the BBQ pulled jackfruit according to its recipe post if it's not already ready. I've included two variations in the recipe; one which is more 'saucy' and one that is drier and more crispy so you can choose your favourite. *
Once the rice has soaked then it's time to cook it. To cook 1.5 cups of rice, add 3 cups of water in the saucepan. Bring to a boil. As soon as it's boiling, cover and leave to simmer until all the water absorbs. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn and stick to the bottom of the pan. The rice is ready when all the water absorbs and it becomes fluffy.
While the rice and jackfruit are cooking, prep the veggies. You can use a veggie shredder or mandoline slicer or even just chop them by hand to thinly slice them. Feel free to use your favourite veggies in place of any of my suggestions. I've kept all the veggies raw for this rice bowl but feel free to steam/boil/ fry any veggies you'd like including sweet potato or mushrooms.
Assembling your donburi bowl couldn't be much simpler. Start with a layer of rice at the bottom of the bowl and then simply top this with about 1 cup of vegetables along with the jackfruit. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Add some coriander.
I also like adding a fried egg. For that, just add a bit of oil to a frying pan, crack an egg open and fry for 2-3 minutes.
You can always top it with extra BBQ sauce for even more flavour. Or even serve this donburi bowl with some soy sauce.
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Notes
* I like to keep some jackfruit 'fruit' in my freezer at all times, so it just needs to thaw before making this recipe ( rather than having to hack through a jackfruit every time you want this recipe). However, if you're on a time crunch/ want to keep thing super simple then you can also choose to use canned jackfruit.Donburi Recipe Variations: As I said above, with a donburi bowl you can easily swap out the vegetable toppings for your own favourites and these can be left raw or steamed/cooked depending on what you prefer. This easy donburi recipe can also easily become a vegan rice bowl by omitting the egg. All the other ingredients are plant-based anyway so no tricky swaps are needed.