These past two weeks have been busy! I feel like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland rushing around from project to project and meeting to meeting. As a result, I’ve let a few things slide…like my blog post for this past Tuesday…and I haven’t been cooking much either. After eating out almost every meal for the last week straight, I decided Tuesday that I need to put an end to that. However, I knew I still had a busy week ahead so couldn’t spend that much time prepping or cooking. As it turns out I have also been craving vegetables (do you see the bunny theme here) and I thought of making a Buddha bowl.
The nice thing about this recipe for a Buddha bowl is you can use any vegetable that roasts well and any grain or other base; I often like to use quinoa rather than rice. On this trip I picked up broccoli florets, Brussel sprouts, sweet potato, and an avocado (to slice fresh on top). I had an onion and a can of garbanzo beans already at home, as well as grains for a base, the spices, tahini, lemon, and honey for the dressing.
- Other vegetables you could consider: cauliflower, beets, carrots, zucchini, butternut squash, green beans, asparagus, potato.
- A note about onions: this time I used a yellow onion because that is what I had, but I prefer the red onion for this as it has a nice sweetness to it when it is roasted.
- Bases to consider: barley, brown or white rice, quinoa, couscous (which cooks up super quick), bulgur, salad greens.
This Buddha bowl can come together very quickly, especially if you buy pre-cut vegetables like I did this time. All I had to do was cut up my onion, toss all the vegetables in a bowl with some olive oil and spices, spread on a sheet pan and roast in the oven. In this case I had enough vegetables that I spread them over 2 sheet pans so they weren’t overlapping and would have enough room to roast nicely. While the vegetables are roasting, you can make your base grain and dressing.
If you’ve never used tahini and lemon juice together, you’ll quickly notice that they get thicker as you stir them together and possibly wonder what you’ve done wrong! At least that was my reaction the first time I made this dressing. However, once you start adding water you’ll find that it gets smoother and thins out; keep adding water a little at a time until you get the consistency you want in a dressing. When I make this I add just a tiny bit of honey, as I never have maple syrup on hand, or I don’t add any sweetener at all. I also add a sprinkle of cumin and paprika.
Now that I’ve given you the low-down on creating a quick Buddha bowl, I’m off to work on my next project, and reheat some Buddha bowl leftovers for lunch today. Below is the recipe I used, along with my notes. Please share your experience with Buddha bowls, would love to know what ended up being successful for you and what your favorite ingredients are!
Moroccan Sheet Pan Buddha Bowl
Roasted vegetables make a quick and easy Buddha Bowl
Credit: Forkly 1 large sweet potato, cubed ½ large red onion, wedge sliced 2 zucchini, diced 1 can kernel corn, drained 1 can chickpeas, drained Olive oil Salt & Pepper to taste MOROCCAN SEASONING: 1 tsp each – cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, turmeric, plus ¼ tsp salt and pepper (or to taste) TAHINI SAUCE: ¼ cup tahini, 1 Tbsp maple syrup, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 2-4 Tbsp water (I often substitute a tiny bit of honey for the maple syrup, or leave it out entirely) Avocado halves, sliced 4 cups cooked brown rice (or other grain) – I usually don’t make this much, I usually make 2 cups 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit 2. Microwave the cubed sweet potato 2 minutes to soften before roasting (do not leave this step out. Alternately you can start roasting the sweet potatos first, and then add the rest of the vegetables later; this will add ~10 minutes to your total cooking time.) 3. Place the sweet potato, red onion, zucchini, corn in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste, and toss to coat. Place on a sheet pan. 4. Using the same bowl, add the chickpeas and drizzle with olive oil and the Moroccan seasoning, and toss to coat. Add to the rest of the vegetables on the sheet pan. 5. Make sure the vegetables are spread evenly in one layer on the sheet pan to ensure they roast evenly; if you need to, use 2 sheet pans. 6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until vegetables are roasted to your liking. Stir/turn the vegetables half way through cooking for more even roasting. 7. While the vegetables are roasting, make the tahini sauce: a. Combine tahini, maple syrup, lemon juice, and 2 Tbsp water in a bowl. It will get thick. b. Add more water 1 Tbsp at a time to thin the dressing until it is the desired consistency. c. I often add a sprinkling of cumin and paprika to the dressing. 8. Add cooked grains to a bowl and spoon the roasted vegetables on top. 9. Top with fresh avocado slices and drizzle with tahini sauce.Ingredients
Directions
Joyful Food Journey 
I love this idea. This is something I could do with my irregular schedule. Thanks for sharing and inspiring me!
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I’m so glad this inspired you! I’ll be doing sheet pan chicken soon too which would be a nice accompaniment if you also like meat protein.
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