Recipe-o'-clock: Here's how you can make a Buddha bowl
Buddha bowl is a wholesome meal that has a little bit of everything you love to savor. It's said that Buddha used to carry a bowl with him on his journeys and accepted food as donations to feed on. This led to the concept of this dish and also the practice of eating a balanced meal. Here's how you can make a Buddha bowl.
Ingredients you would need
To prepare this vegetarian/vegan delight, you would need quinoa, chickpeas, roasted sunflower seeds, and sweet potatoes. Also arrange for some avocado slices, baby spinach, red cabbage, vegetable broth, and cucumber. For flavor, you'd require oil, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, garlic tahini dressing, salt, and pepper. All these ingredients should be used moderately or as per your appetite.
Step 1: Roast sweet potatoes & chickpeas
Chop the sweet potatoes into medium-sized cubes. Meanwhile, set your oven to 200 degrees Celsius and let it preheat. Now add the chopped sweet potatoes, chickpeas, oil, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, chilli powder, and pepper into a bowl and mix well. Now pour the sweet potatoes and chickpeas on a baking sheet, separate from each other. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes.
Step 2: Cook quinoa
While the potatoes and chickpeas are getting roasted, you can cook quinoa meanwhile. Add quinoa and vegetable broth to a pan and bring it to a boil. Then, reduce to a simmer, add salt, cover with a lid, and cook it for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, fluff the quinoa with a fork, and cool it down for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Step 3: Assemble the bowl
It's time to finally make your Buddha bowl and believe us, it's super easy! Chop the red cabbage and cucumber into fine bite-sized pieces. Carefully pour the quinoa into a bowl, and add spinach, baked sweet potatoes and chickpeas, cucumber, and cabbage. Top it with sunflower seeds and garlic tahini dressing. Add avocado slices for the final touch, and enjoy!
Other variants of Buddha bowl
The best thing about the Buddha bowl is that it is totally customizable. You can replace quinoa with any grain including rice or barley. You can also swap chickpeas with tofu, tempeh, or beans. Anything that can be roasted goes well. Broccoli in place of sweet potatoes also works. If you don't like sunflower seeds, you can use almonds, sesame seeds, or hemp.
