In my healthy food reading, I have been seeing a lot of Buddha Bowls, I have been really curious about them, since they are so beautiful to look at and so full of healthy ingredients.
But I have wondered what makes a Buddha bowl different than a rice bowl or a large salad.
It turns out that a Buddha Bowl is -- a bowl of food, so full, it reminds one of the round belly of a Buddha. The meaning tends to lean toward them being filled with Veggie goodness, but the recipes for rice bowl that I have found usually are.
So essentially - it is a giant bowl of food? YUP!! I'll take that. I love giant bowls of food.
This recipe is really delicious and a little bit different that it used Chickpeas as the protein and well as spinach. The chickpeas don't take a ton of time to cook and they add a great texture to the creaminess of the roasted sweet potato and crunch of the spinach.
You can make a few of these on the weekend and have lunches all week that your coworkers will be envious of. Of you can serve a quick healthy meal to your family.
Ingredients:
Vegetables:
** Roasted
2 Tbsp olive, melted coconut, or grape seed oil
1/2 red onion, sliced in wedges
2 large sweet potatoes, halved
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
**Fresh
1 cup Spinach for each bowl
Chickpeas:
1 15-ounce chickpeas, drained, rinsed and then patted dry
1 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp turmeric
Tahini Sauce:
1/4 cup tahini -- If you don't want to go buy tahini just for this, you can totally use hummus!
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 lemon, juiced
2-4 Tbsp hot water to thin
2 cups cooked rice / or other grain (quinoa, bulger, brown rice)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and arrange sweet potatoes and onions on a bare baking sheet. Drizzle both with a bit of oil, making sure the flesh of the sweet potatoes are well coated and placed skin side down on the sheet. Roast for 10 minutes and then flip and stir - then another 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft in the middle and crispy outside.
While vegetables are roasting, heat a large skillet over medium heat and add chickpeas to a mixing bowl and toss with seasonings.
Once hot, add 1 Tbsp oil and chickpeas and sauté, stirring frequently. If they’re browning too quickly, turn down heat. If there isn’t much browning going on, increase heat. They will brown the best if you made sure you got them really dry after you rinsed them.
Once the chickpeas are browned and fragrant, remove from heat and set aside.
Prepare sauce by adding tahini, maple syrup and lemon juice to a mixing bowl and whisking to combine.
Add hot water until a pourable sauce is formed. Set aside.
To assemble the bowls, place a 1/4 cup of rice in the bottom of each bowl.
Add a big handful of spinach to your bowls, It is going to wilt a bit when you put the hot vegetables and chickpeas on, so you'll lose some of the bulk.
Divide the roasted vegetables between the bowls and top with chickpeas.
You can then top with the dressing, or serve in on the side. - I like to keep the dressing on the side if I am making these for lunch so that things don't get soggy. (just a tip)
