If you use social media for food inspo, you may have seen these hash tagged all about town. You may have created your own Buddha Bowl by accident at any vegetarian cafe where you can select your own fillings. These little bowls are being crazed as weight loss food, I guess mainly because they are full of veggies and low on starchy carbohydrates. It always seems funny to me how people discover healthy food, which to me is just food, and then label it as a 'weight loss dish' or something along those lines. The good thing about trends like this however, is that it teaches people how to eat healthfully. I also love how pretty these bowls looks when you arrange them with all the colours of the rainbow. Beautiful food is enjoyable to eat, and it inspires you to want to eat this way all the time.
The best thing about it is that you can really make it your own. There is no one recipe you need to follow. Having said that, here are some guidelines to make our own Buddha Bowl...
1. Choose an assortment of coloured vegetables and try to incorporate as many raw as you can. For example; grated carrot, red cabbage and radish all go really well in this dish uncooked. You get more nutritional content and they add a nice texture to the meal.
2. Add some steamed veggies such as pumpkin, kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts... anything you like.
3. Choose some legumes and/or grains to accompany your meal. Chickpeas, lentils, buckwheat, quinoa, brown rice etc.
4. Add some good fats such as avocado. If you don't like avocado, you can ad some nuts such as walnuts, or macadamia. You can also toast these nuts if you wish, although raw are better.
5. Choose your protein. Traditionally vegetarian sources such as tofu, tempeh and eggs, but you can add meat if you wish. For myself, I would find the meat a bit too heavy in this dish, but it's your bowl, so make it as you like.
6. Add some topping! Things that work well are tahini, hummus, tzatziki, pesto etc. Feel free to combine a few. You can also add fermented veggies such a kimchi if you want to go that one step further and add some beneficial microbes to the mix!
The best thing about these bowls is that they contain every nutrient you need. Fats, carbs, protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants.
Enjoy!