Buddha bowls, I’ve had a few requests for these! So what is a Buddha bowl? Well it is healthy first up and is apparently called a Buddha bowl because you serve it in a round bowl and that represents the Buddha belly?! I don’t know how accurate that is, but either way this was surprisingly amazing plus you can tweak it to your liking.
So a Buddha bowl aka a macro bowl or protein bowl must consist of at least 1 portion of vegetables, 1 bean, 1 grain such as brown rice or quinoa plus a healthy topping, something like a hummus. I opted for a coconut milk inspired rice, with curried chickpeas, charred balsamic vegetables topped in sriracha and sesame seeds – super good! Play around with the theory and see how you get on!
First up make the rice, pour the low fat coconut milk, water, maple syrup and salt into a pan and stir together, add the rice and bring to a simmer. Once it’s simmering place a lid on and leave it to cook away for 18-20 mins before fluffing up.
Meanwhile char the vegetables in a frying pan, add a little oil to a frying pan and warm over a medium heat, add in the peppers, onion and kale, season and mix through. Plonk on a lid which will help to soften the vegetables (particularly the kale) and cook for ten minutes. At the five minute stage take off the lid and give it a little stir. Just before removing the charred vegetables from the pan add a splash of balsamic vinegar and mix through for a minute for a little zing.
Also to one side get one more pan and add in the drained chickpeas, curry paste a drop of oil, then season with salt and pepper. Mix well to coat the chickpeas then heat the pan and cook them for about 8 minutes to char the outside edges.
Serve it up in a bowl divided into three sections, one with the rice, one with the vegetables, then the chickpeas. Add a swirl of sriracha sauce on top of it then sprinkle with sesame seeds. This truly blowed my mind, I hope you love it!