Buddha bowl

Buddha bowl

30 min
A homemade buddha bowl has a little bit of everything; vegetables, seeds, grains, beans, and delicious garnishes to top it all off. In our version of this colourful dish, we have arranged fruits and vegetables such as carrots, radishes, pointed cabbage, edamame beans, pomegranate seeds, and avocado on a bed of quinoa. All of the flavours of this quick buddha bowl are tied together by the addition of smooth tahini-flavoured hummus, black sesame seeds, sharp chilli peppers, and coriander leaves for freshness.
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https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/recipes/buddha-bowl/

Instructions

Hummus dressing
  • Blend all ingredients with a stick blender until the hummus is smooth.
  • Season to taste.
Buddha bowl
  • In four bowls, arrange boiled quinoa, pointed cabbage, edamame beans, pomegranate seeds, avocado, radishes, carrots, and a spoonful of hummus.
  • Garnish with coriander leaves, sesame seeds, and chilli.
  • Serve the buddha bowls with the rest of the hummus dressing and wholemeal bread on the side.
Enjoy!
Tip

The easiest way to slice vegetables thinly is to use a so-called mandolin slicer. This kitchen tool is excellent at cutting different kinds of vegetables into sticks and slices. Since a good mandolin is incredibly sharp, it is important to be mindful of your safety when you use it. As such, use a finger protector or safety guard, or choose a model that ensures your fingers will never come near the blade.

Questions about buddha bowls

With an easy quinoa buddha bowl recipe, making a delicious and colourful meal is quick and simple. To learn more about buddha bowls, read our answers to the most frequently asked questions about them below.

What are buddha bowls?
Buddha bowls are a popular type of lighter meal that typically consists of a bowl filled with a variety of vegetable and fruit toppings. Some say that the name refers to the balance and harmony of the ingredients, resembling Buddhist principles of balance and mindfulness. Another theory is that it comes from the way the ingredients are arranged, which is said to resemble the Buddha's round belly. One of the benefits of buddha bowls is that they can be customised to suit individual tastes as you can use any type of cooked or raw vegetables, seeds, grains, dressings, and garnishes.
What to put in a buddha bowl?
Though quinoa buddha bowls like ours are popular, the base can also consist of white rice, brown rice, grated cauliflower 'rice', couscous, barley, bulgur, or leafy greens like kale and spinach. You can garnish them with nuts, seeds, and herbs of any kind and use just about any type of vegetable and fruit as a topping. Popular choices include avocado, carrot, cabbage, kale, beans, chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, corn, sweet potato, beetroot, onion, pepper, and mango. As they are, as such, incredibly easy to vary, we are willing to bet that you will not tire of the buddha bowl concept any time soon.
How to make a buddha bowl?
Easy buddha bowls make for a delightful and easy lunch or dinner with lots of flavour, texture, and colour. Start by making your homemade hummus dressing by blending sour cream, canned chickpeas, garlic, salt, lemon juice and zest, as well as tahini paste. Season it to taste. Make a quinoa base and top it with sliced carrots, avocado, radishes, shredded cabbage, edamame beans, and pomegranate seeds. Garnish with hummus, sesame seeds, fresh chilli, and coriander leaves.
What is a good buddha bowl dressing?
Hummus makes for a delicious and easy buddha bowl dressing. Its rich and creamy texture works well with the tender quinoa and crunchy, fresh vegetables and serves to bind them together and create a harmonious dish. A hummus dressing for buddha bowls also brings wonderful Middle Eastern influences as well as nutty and earthy notes. The tahini in the homemade hummus gives it a slightly smoky taste that pairs well with the freshness of a buddha bowl.

Ingredients

Hummus dressing
Sour cream, 18%
150 ml
Chickpeas in brine (drained weight)
240 g
Big garlic clove, crushed
1
Coarse salt
1 tsp
Tahini
1 tbsp
Lemon (juice and zest)
1
Buddha bowl
Boiled quinoa
150 g
Purple pointed cabbages, finely shredded
200 g
Edamame beans
100 g
Pomegranate seeds
100 g
Sliced avocados
2
Sliced radishes
4
Carrots, cut into strips
150 g
Garnish
Fresh coriander
Sesame seeds
Chilli peppers, cut into rings
Serve with
Wholemeal bread
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Quinoa buddha bowl with vegetables and creamy hummus

Buddha bowls have become quite popular in recent years, and it is no wonder why! Since we eat as much with our eyes as we do our mouths, the bowls' vibrant, colourful look makes them incredibly enticing.

In our rendition, mild and nutty-tasting quinoa forms the base of the delicious meal. This tasty whole grain has a delightfully fluffy texture that is tender but has just the right amount of chewiness to keep things interesting. The combination of fluffy quinoa, smooth hummus with tahini, and crunchy and juicy fruits and vegetables makes for a wonderful meal that is perfect for lunch or as a light dinner.

Garnished with coriander, sesame, and red chilli pepper

Though it is already packed with flavour, a tasty buddha bowl with quinoa and great toppings is, of course, not complete without a selection of delicious garnishes. Coriander leaves, sesame seeds, and red chilli pepper are a popular combination in multiple cuisines. The fresh, citrussy flavour of the coriander leaves pairs well with the nuttiness of the sesame seeds and the spicy kick of the red chilli pepper.

Coriander leaves are known for their bright flavour. They add a refreshing note to your quinoa buddha bowl. The sesame seeds add a lovely crunchy texture and nutty flavour that mirror the tahini-flavoured hummus. The thin slices of red chilli pepper add a subtle heat that will tickle your tastebuds.

Homemade hummus dressing with tahini

Homemade hummus dressing with tahini is a delicious and versatile dressing that can be used to add flavour and creaminess to a wide variety of dishes, including this one. The rich mouthfeel of the hummus beautifully complements the fresh crispness of the carrots, pointed cabbage, and radishes.

Using tahini dressing for a buddha bowl also gives it an intense nutty flavour as tahini is a nut butter or paste made from toasted sesame seeds. It has a slightly bitter and smoky flavour and has a great savouriness to it. It perfumes the earthy hummus to create an even more flavourful dressing for your tasty buddha bowl.

Crispy, fresh, colourful buddha bowl toppings

A buddha bowl with hummus and quinoa tastes great with vegetables like sweet carrots, mild pointed cabbage, and peppery radishes. All are crunchy and each brings a different note to the dish's overall flavour profile. Though it is not crunchy, avocado also makes for a wonderful buddha bowl topping. Its smooth, creamy texture provides a great contrast to the crispy vegetables and juicy pomegranate seeds. So too do the buttery edamame beans, which taste slightly nutty and sweet, and have a bit of bite.

Add your own touch

A buddha bowl recipe gives you ample opportunity to get creative as you can vary the ingredients indefinitely, depending on which fruits and vegetables are in season or what you happen to have in your fridge or pantry. If you want to play around with the idea of making your homemade buddha bowl more substantial, we suggest adding some shredded oven-fried chicken, topping it with a perfectly cooked soft-boiled egg, or finding inspiration in our sushi bowl recipe by incorporating thin slices of your favourite fish.

If our tahini buddha bowl is a bit too intense for you, you can instead flavour your homemade hummus dressing with za'atar or dukkah. Both are rich, earthy, and lemony spice blends of Middle Eastern origin and are as such perfect for hummus flavourings. Both can also be sprinkled on top of your buddha bowl as a garnish, the latter adding a bit of crunch.

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