Build-a-bowl
A meal fit for the Buddha!
I love simple food. When I am at home alone, without a family to feed, I rarely make a fancy meal. Instead I aim for a favorite grain like black rice, a favorite starch like Japanese sweet potatoes, a favorite green like steamed lacinato/dinosaur kale, a bean like chickpeas or lentils, something fresh like a quick cabbage slaw or baby greens, and something fermented like kimchi. I make an easy dressing (or usually have one already in the fridge from batch cooking on the weekend) to drizzle over top. It’s my absolute favorite way to eat! And if you don’t want to use canned beans, frozen veggies, and pre-cooked grains, bowls are a great inspiration for batch cooking your grains and beans, making sauce for the week and prepping your veggies ahead of time!
Ingredients
Starchy Vegetable: Yam, Japanese Sweet Potato, Russet Potato
Grain: Quinoa, Millet, Brown Rice (can buy shelf-stable or frozen pre-cooked and heat in microwave)
Green: Mixed greens, Arugula, Kale, Collards, Bok Choy, Spinach, or Chard (buy prewasheded and bagged), or shredded cabbage – add raw or steam for 2 minutes or cook your favorite frozen greens in the microwave.
Sauteed (in water/broth) or steamed Veggies: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, Green Beans, Snap Peas, Onion, etc. (or microwave frozen broccoli, cauliflower, mixed veggies, mixed greens, spinach, peas, etc.)
Beans: Black, Pinto, Garbanzo, Lentils, Kidney, Cannelini/Navy, Great Northern, Kidney, etc. (open a can and drain, heat in microwave if desired)
Sauce: Choose an oil-free store-bought sauce or dressing (Dr. Furhman’s and Plant Strong offer these!) or better yet, make Spicy Maple Miso, Cashew or Tofu Ranch, or Tahini Miso Ginger, or Peanut Sauce and more in our recipe pages.
Other Toppings: Toasted Sunflower or pumpkin seeds, Gomasio (black and white), Fuirkake, Fresh Herbs, chopped onion or scallion, chopped tomatoes, etc.
Seasonings: Braggs, Tamari, Spike, Mrs, Dash, Soy Sauce, Liquid Aminos
Optional: toss your slaw mix with a drizzle of rice vinegar, tamari or soy sauce, maple or date syrup, onion powder, garlic powder, and sesame seeds for a quick Asian slaw .
Instructions
First, bake your potato (oven or microwave)
Preheat oven to 400. Wash spuds/yams and poke holes with a fork and place on middle rack of oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour (when fork can be easily inserted.) If you’re using a microwave, be sure to poke holes with fork first, the microwave on high for 10 minutes or until you can pierce easily with a fork. Meanwhile:
- Cook your grain (in pan or your frozen bag in microwave), add to bowlMake your sauce (or open your bottle – see our pantry essentials for bottled sauce recommendations)
- Saute veggies and/or steam greens (or cook your frozen veggies in microwave), add to bowl
- Toast seeds or chopped nuts (or skip this step and buy unsalted and toasted)
- Drizzle with sauce and sprinkle on nuts or seeds
Now eat and enjoy!
