Buddha bowl: health and colour in a bowl
Which is the foodies’ new trend for 2017 on the social network? No doubts, Buddha bowl is the new hit! Buddha bowls become a must of the foodies and passionate that in the recent months posted on the web hundreds pictures of colourful bowls, that are above all, really healthy.
Buddha bowl doesn’t follow a single recipe but they rather represent a way of eating healthy for a balanced and complete diet. They are large round bowls that remember the Chinese Buddha’s belly filled with vegetables and other vegetable food chosen carefully based on their nutritional value.
Where do Buddha Bowls come from?
Buddha bowls remind the ancient ritual of the Buddhist monks to knock doors after doors with an empty bowl that the believers refill with offers of food, flowers and incense. In the Buddhist religion the offer of food and ritual objects is a special ritual that can be compared with the new food trend characterized by care and attention that the oriental culture has for food. Buddha Bowl are inspired by the diet of the Buddhist monks and of the oriental culture, that affirm that food has to feed the body and the spirit as a medicine. And cuisine is the right way to take care of us. The result is big coloured bowls rich in food that feed the body, feeling better.
The rules to prepare a perfect Buddha Bowl
Not the usual mixed salad! Buddha bowl are different than the usual salad because the ingredients are placed in the bowls separately and not mixed together; besides the attention and care to set the dish properly and the choice of the food.
The main aim is to obtain a single dish that fully satisfy our nutritive needs balancing carbohydrates, proteins and vegetables, to obtain a complete meal.
To obtain a right bowl rich in all the nutrients you should put inside:
- Proteins: possibly vegetable or soy like tofu and tempeh or legumes like beans, chickpeas and lentils.
- Carbohydrates: cereals or pseudo-cereals like whole rice, spelt, oat, quinoa, and millet
- Raw vegetables: green salad, spring cabbage, spinach, and chicory
- Cooked seasonal vegetables
- Fats and extra seasoning: choose a vegetable fat like avocado, extra virgin olive oil, tahine, oily seeds and dried fruit.
A good rule to follow is the same that the nutritionists advise for a single dish: fill half the bowl with vegetables, a third of proteins and a third of carbohydrates. The seasonings and the vegetable fats are an extra and shouldn’t exceed the 10% of the whole dish.
The recipe of a super Buddha bowl
Colour, taste and health! A Buddha Bowl mixes these three elements in a single big ceramic bowl, colourful and lively because, in fact, looks matter!
We advise you this combination, as they are seasonal winter vegetables but you can also create every day your personalized Buddha Bowl.
- Quinoa
- Spices chickpeas
- Roasted winter vegetables
- Mix of rainbow salad
- Avocado
- Tahine Dressing
Boil 50 grams of quinoa (a glass more or less) in two glasses of water for 15 minutes, drain and season with a drizzle of oil and black pepper. Sear little grinded onion in a drizzle of oil, powdered curcuma, saffron, and a teaspoon of curry, powdered chilli pepper and mix the chickpeas boiled in advance (or drain a can), marinate for 10 minutes.
Cut a piece of pumpkin in thin stripes, a half celeriac, a dozen of Brussels sprouts and two carrots seasoned with salt and pepper, a pinch of cinnamon and curcuma. Bake for 40 minutes. Prepare a mixed salad with red chicory, valerian or spinach, green and purple chicory and season with a drizzle of vinegar and oil. Cut half an avocado in slices and prepare the dressing diluted with a spoon of tahine (sesame dough) with three spoons of water and the juice of half a lemon. Play with your imagination to refill your Buddha Bowl placing small clumps of ingredients: fill the bottom of the bowl with salad, a third with quinoa and a third with chickpeas, then add a great quantity of cooked vegetables and the slices of avocado. Decorate with the dressing
