A buddha bowl is a colorful bowl, usually containing a grain, a legume,blanched leafy greens, steamed vegetables, a pickled vegetable, and a delicious sauce. To make this buddha bowl, one item from each category is used. This includes:
A grain: this recipe calls for brown rice. However, this can be substituted with a different rice if you don’t have brown rice on hand. You could also replace the rice with quinoa, farro, or couscous.
A legume, which adds protein to the bowl. In this recipe, chickpeas are used, but you could swap the chickpeas for a different protein. Give edamame, lentils, and black beans (or any type of bean) a try, or top your buddha bowls with cubes of crispy tofu or tempeh. For an added crunch, you could even use roasted chickpeas.
Leafy greens: kale is used in this recipe but can be exchanged with your preferred leafy green.
Cooked vegetables: This recipe uses sweet potatoes. However, you can experiment with the vegetables. Substitute the sweet potato with roasted butternut squash or regular potatoes, or try a different variety of roasted vegetable. Roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, or beets would all work wonderfully. You could also try cooking them in different ways. Instead of leaving it raw, steam or sauté the kale, steam or roast the carrots, or boil the sweet potatoes. In the summer, grilled veggies would be a fantastic addition!
A pickled vegetable: sauerkraut is the preferred pickled vegetable in this recipe. It is also possible to swap it for something else, for example, kimchi or pickled onions.
A delicious sauce: a self-made creamy turmeric tahini dressing is added. This is an easy sauce to make since it doesn’t require a blender and is stirred together in no time. You can also create a different tahini sauce variation or use an entirely different sauce, for example, peanut sauce, lemon vinaigrette, green goddess dressing, cilantro lime dressing, hummus, or drizzles of sesame oil and soy sauce or tamari.
It is possible to meal-prep this recipe because all the components keep nicely in the fridge.
Recipe
The preparation time for this dish is approximately 15 minutes, and the cooking time is around 20 minutes. It is suitable for serving four individuals.
Ingredients:
1 large sweet potato, cubed,
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling,
1 watermelon radish or 2 red radishes,
2 medium carrots,
100 grams of shredded red cabbage,
Squeeze a lemon,
8 kale leaves, chopped,
380 grams of cooked brown rice or quinoa,
170 grams of cooked chickpeas or cooked lentils,
115 grams of sauerkraut or other fermented veggies,
2 tablespoons sesame seeds or hemp seeds.
Ingredients for turmeric tahini sauce:
140 grams of tahini,
62 ml of lemon juice,
6 table spoons of water, plus more if needed,
1 small garlic clove, grated or pressed,
½ teaspoon sea salt,
½ teaspoon turmeric,
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger,
1 teaspoon olive oil,
1 teaspoon maple syrup.
Instruction:
Preheat the oven to 204 degrees Celsius and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Toss the sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and spread onto the baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Meanwhile, make the turmeric-tahini sauce by combining all the ingredients. Add more water if necessary.
Thinly slice the radish into rounds; this is best done on a mandoline, and use a vegetable peeler to peel the carrots into ribbons. Then, toss the radish slices, carrots, and shredded cabbage with a squeeze of lemon and set aside.
Place the kale leaves into a large bowl and toss with a squeeze of lemon and a few pinches of salt. Use your hands to massage the leaves until they become soft and wilted, and reduce the amount in the bowl by about half.
Assemble individual bowls with the brown rice, chickpeas, kale, carrots, radishes, cabbage, sweet potatoes, sauerkraut, and sesame seeds. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with the turmeric tahini sauce. The buddha bowl is now ready to be enjoyed!
Sources:
https://www.loveandlemons.com/buddha-bowl-recipe/
https://www.loveandlemons.com/tahini-sauce/