I am no fan of fake meats and I am extremely suspicious of Quorn, I am also a bit fussy about dishes where something has been used as a meat substitute (lentil bolognaise comes to mind although I found a lentil and eggplant moussaka to be delicious)
In view of all this fussiness (for once my own and not someone else's) my vegan offerings tend to revolve around vegetable curries or a Buddha bowl style of meal.
Buddha bowls seem to me to be very loosely defined, they might be vegan or vegetarian or contain meat, they might contain a mix of cold and hot foods, some people add a fermented food as a matter of course and some don't.
The way I see it, a buddha bowl should feel abundant and have lots of little treasures of flavour and texture. I don't have bowls large enough so we actually have a buddha plate and I never manage to design a bowl with quite the variety I would like. By the time I organise a few components I start to get overwhelmed with the number of tasks to do but it's a great idea to have a bit of fun with and I think it would work really well for people who do meal prep on the weekends. You could fill the fridge with pre-cooked vegetables, grains, meat, eggs and yummy dressings and then every day it would be easy to choose the components of the day's bowl, add some fresh salad veggies or quickly saute something and have a healthy meal with a minimum of effort.
My creation yesterday was roast pumpkin, fenugreek sprouts, sauteed fennel & asparagus, raw tomatoes with basil mayo and Lebanese inspired cumin and lentil rice. What would you put in a buddha bowl?
My creation yesterday was roast pumpkin, fenugreek sprouts, sauteed fennel & asparagus, raw tomatoes with basil mayo and Lebanese inspired cumin and lentil rice. What would you put in a buddha bowl?
brown rice, chicken or turkey, black pepper and lime, green beans, avocado.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds good! cilantro would go really well with that combo, too :)
DeleteYum.
ReplyDeleteBrown rice (and perhaps chickpeas), nuts, tofu sometimes, tomato, mushrooms, brocoli, peas, mushrooms, chilli, garlic, houmus, avocado and whatever looked good in the fridge/cupboards that day.
So many things!
DeleteI had never heard of the term Buddha Bowl before this post. If I had to make one, I would use steamed rice and lentil cakes called idlies here, coconut chutney, shallots in a lentil curry, and stir fried vegetables like egg plant or okras and a green salad with seasonal vegetables as addition. I would offer home made yogurt to wash it all down.
ReplyDeleteNow that you say that, I suppose the Buddha bowl idea comes very close to your traditional way of eating.
DeleteWe don't get okra very much here but I really like it.
The picture is a beautiful dish and since we eat with our eyes first it would start the meal with a bang. We have at least one vegetarian meal every week (not necessarily vegan though)
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of a Buddha Bowl either, but might have been making them all these years without knowing it when I gather the fragments from the fridge and call it dinner) I am going to investigate this because it looks so interesting. Thank you so much for sharing this idea!
I don't think I have ever gathered fragments and called them a meal but I am sure you have been making buddha bowls all along and just recently someone made a catchy name for it!
DeleteI only recently heard the term Buddha Bowl on a friend's blog. However I've been eating in a similar fashion for years. I love picking different textures and flavours (mainly textures at one time when I lost my ability to taste properly for some years). However it is time consuming and preparing amounts for one person even with a fridge is sometimes a hassle.
ReplyDeleteIt looks so simple, I'm glad you can also find it a hassle!
DeleteThere are many ideas that are good for smaller families but become onerous when multiplied to six people so I'm a bit fussy about what I will declare useful
I would put my chubby little Buddha from Thailand in the Buddha Bowl. Then I would surround him with salted peanuts and eat them while watching a TV quiz show.
ReplyDeletegood idea! I would probably have mixed nuts
DeleteNot much I can say about Buddha bowls since I've never put one together. But the one in the photo looks delicious. I don't like quinoa though - it seems a bit tasteless to me.
DeleteNick,
DeleteI've never had quinoa but I'm guessing you treat it like rice or pasta and get the flavour from the accompaniment
Err vegetable what, Buddha where? In a bowl? sorry Kylie when it comes to food, old school give me meat and potatoes and let the chips (crisp ones) fall where they will.
ReplyDeletelol! yes, I remember that about you! Meat and potatoes are good, even better with gravy
Delete