“Your body is precious.
It is your vehicle for awakening.
Treat it with care.”
(Buddha)
Buddha bowl – It has become a fancy buzz word nowadays, but what is the actual link between Buddha and a bowl stuffed with food? Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) is well known as a leader of spiritual teachers for his enlightened experience. If you think of a typical Buddha statue, you’ll probably visualize his big belly in front of your inner eye – do you?
A buddha bowl refers to a bowl filled with fresh, clean, vibrant, and therefore healthy ingredients. Food options are limitless, choose whatever makes you feel best. Consider a balanced composition of carbs, proteins, and healthy fats. As such bowls tend to be overstuffed, they resemble the big belly of Buddha.
How to prepare an epic Buddha bowl? What ingredients are recommended? I’ll give you a few options to choose from in order to keep it balanced. However, as soon as you choose mainly plant-based whole foods, go with whatever floats your boat:
- carbs: whole (pseudo)grains (e.g. quinoa, brown rice, amaranth, millet), starchy vegetables (sweet potato, squash, pumpkin)
- protein: beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh, chick peas (falafel, hummus)
- fats: avocado, nuts/nut butters, seeds (hemp, chia, flax, sesame seeds), tahini, high quality plant-based oils (flax, hemp, olive, algae oil)
- greens: are loaded with nutrients (e.g. calcium, magnesium, vitamin K, folate, etc), chlorophyll, fiber, and help replenish your alkaline mineral stores
- colorful veggies: steamed or raw
- tasty garnishes: fresh herbs (cilantro, parsley), sprouts, squeeze of lime, sprinkle of sea salt, etc
Ingredients (2 servings)
Falafel
- 1 cup dry chick peas (~ 2 cups soaked) or 1 can of chick peas
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup sesame seeds
- ½ cup chopped parsley
- 1 red onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 lemon (or lime)
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tsp sea salt
- pinch of paprika
- pinch of black pepper
Buddha Bowl
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 handful greens
- 1 handful cherry tomatoes
- 2 cups veggies (e. g. carrots, peas, broccoli, etc)
- 1 avocado
- 4 tbsp hummus
- 2 tsp chia seeds
- 1 lime
- parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Soak dried chick peas (garbanzos) overnight in water.
- Drain, rinse, and cook soaked chick peas for 120-180 minutes in fresh water.
- Put sunflower and sesame seeds into a pan and roast them for a few minutes.
- Peel and chop onion and garlic roughly.
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C (156 F).
- Place all ingredients for the falafels into a food processor or blender (you can even use a hand blender) and process until ingredients form a rough dough (about 1 minute).
- Prepare a baking sheet on a tray, form small balls with hands and create patties by flattening them. Optional: Roll them in sesame seeds (or sprinkle some seeds on top).
- Bake falafels for around 30 minutes until golden and crispy. Turn them halfway after 15 minutes.
- Rinse the quinoa and cook it in 2 cups slightly salted water.
- Wash your greens and tomatoes, cut tomatoes in half.
- Wash, cut, and steam your veggies of choice (or serve them raw).
- Mix your ingredients into a bowl.
- Cut the avocado and place one half in each bowl.
- Place baked falafel on your bowl.
- Squeeze lime and add additional ingredients on your bowl (seeds, hummus, tahini, plant-based oil, parsley, etc)
A holy bowl of go(o)dness.
Fill your belly with delight!
