Vibrant Broccoli Buddha Bowl with Curry Pesto – IHCC Bon Voyage Heidi

A few drops of sriracha chili sauce adorn the buddha bowl

This is the last week of the six months cooking along with Heidi Swanson at IHCC. The buddha bowl stands out in my mind to be the dish I most remember about Heidi’s super natural cooking. Don’t know why she calls it a buddha bowl. To me, the minimalist approach with very few ingredients, purity and sustaining quality of the dish speaks to me. I don’t get tired of making a buddha bowl in its many incarnations.

This bowl consists of three components: vegetable, grains and a pesto. There are only seven ingredients involved in making this wholesome bowl. The vegetable here is broccoli and the grain is quinoa. The pesto is blended with sliced almonds, garlic, broccoli, green curry paste, a squeeze of lemon juice and coconut milk. The pesto has a subtle and quiet taste; none of the components dominates, just what you would expect in a buddha bowl. I added a few extras: slices of ripe avocado, fresh parsley and drops of sriracha chili sauce.

There is a long list of other vegetables and grains that would be suitable to go into a buddha bowl. Cauliflower, root vegetables or green beans. Brown rice, farro, wheat berries, millet or whatever you have on hand can be used other than quinoa. The variations are endless.

 

The last six months cooking along with Heidi has been a blast. I picked up a few wonderful ideas from her beautiful blog Cookbooks 101. The most unexpected are the cookies, pasta, noodles and pancakes made with lesser-used flours, such as rye, buckwheat and chickpea. If you have a sweet tooth, you’d appreciate a healthful double chocolate cookies recipe using no sugar, no butter and no eggs. These are “no harm done” and gluten-free chocolate cookies. You can have your sweets and eat them too! The quinoa skillet bread is another fantastic baking recipe using a super grain. This is an appealing bread that can be served from breakfast to a light dinner.

I was able to serve up a number of really tasty easy everyday dishes of a different kind. A colorful cauliflower rice bowl. A miso soup. Heidi’s blog is filled with unusual and healthful recipes. Thanks, Heidi for all the inspiration and deliciousness.