This Vegan Buddha Bowl ticks all the boxes when it comes to getting your vegetables fix, a dose of fibre, pre and probiotics and not to mention monounsaturated fats for energy, satiety and weight control. When we say eat the rainbow, this is the definition.
You might be thinking, there is a heavy dose of chickpeas within this meal and this is the perfect time to bust the myth that LCHF cannot contain legumes.
Legumes can absolutely form part of a well balanced LCHF lifestyle and they provide so many benefits, especially when it comes to the microbiome to even consider missing out on these little powerhouses. What we are seeing more and more of in clinic is low microbial diversity which is an undesirable level of both the different types and amount of bacterial species present within the gastrointestinal tract leading to poor health outcomes. A varied diet rich in plant-based foods such as vegetables and legumes (a.k.a chickpeas, lentils, peas) is often associated with increased microbial diversity and the simple solution!
Hopefully this provides you with some inspiration to incorporate a more diverse range of food groups into your diet and forget the notion that you are limited to a small variety of foods when adopting an LCHF template.
Ingredients (Serves 2)
- 1 medium sweet potato, washed
- 400g can chickpeas
- 2 tablespoons cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 head cauliflower
- 2 tablespoons cold-pressed extra virgin coconut oil
- 100g spinach
- 1 avocado, sliced in half & peeled
- 4 tablespoons fermented vegetables e.g. beetroot
- Dairy Free Sour Cream
- 2 tablespoons hemp seeds
- Sea salt, to taste.
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Dice sweet potato and place in a medium bowl. Coat well with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt.
- Transfer onto a baking tray and set aside.
- Rinse and drain chickpeas and place in the medium bowl used above. Add remaking olive oil, curry powder, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt. Transfer onto the above baking tray if large enough, or a separate tray. Cook sweet potato and chickpeas at the same time for about 20 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, grate cauliflower to a rice consistency. You can also use a food processor here if you wish.
- Heat coconut oil in a large fry pan and lightly fry “rice” until soft and set aside to cool.
- Assemble the bowls by dividing the cauliflower rice as the base, then in a clockwise direction add sweet potato slices, chickpeas, spinach, avocado halves and fermented vegetables. Drizzle with dairy free cashew sour cream and sprinkle with hemp seeds.
Recipe developed by Head Honcho Steph Lowe and image shot by Elyse Lagos, TNN Practice Manager, Recipe Developer & Food Photographer. Learn more about Steph & Elyse here.