Roasted Veggies and Chickpea Bowl

Here is another of my favourite buddha bowls. One thing that really inspires my Buddha bowls are thinking about different regional cuisines. This bowl draws inspiration from the classic flavours of the Mediterranean, such as veggies roasted with onion and garlic, using olives, herbs and roasted tomatoes where as my Ghanaian inspired buddha bowl pairs classic Ghanaian ingredients into a tasty buddha bowl.

This bowl pairs roasted vegetables perfectly with fluffy and simple Israeli couscous and roasted chickpeas that are bursting with flavour. All of it topped with my incredibly creamy cashew dressing.

With this recipe there is still lots of room to swap out any of the roasted veggies or greens used. Plus it is a great recipe to make for meal-prep.

Ingredients–Serves 2

Chickpeas

• 1 clove of garlic finely minced
• 1 can of chickpeas (1 1/2 cup of cooked chickpeas)
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp of oil to coat
• Salt to taste

Roasted Vegetables

• 1 clove of garlic finely minced
• 2 medium tomatoes sliced in half
• 1/2 medium onion sliced
• 1/2 large red bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 large yellow bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 large orange bell pepper chopped
  • for the bell pepper feel free to use one or two of the types of peppers just make sure it all amounts to 1 1/2 bell pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste

Kale and Israeli Couscous

Note: If you do not have access to the Israeli couscous you can substitute for any grain you have available, such as brown rice or quinoa

• 1 cup dry Israeli couscous
• 1 1/2 cup water
• small handful of chopped parsley
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 2 cups chopped kale (preferably curly green kale or baby kale)
• a small handful of black olives sliced in half

Dressing

Ingredients and Recipe are available here

Directions

1. The first thing to do is to prep the foods that will be roasted. So preheat your oven to 375F.
2. In a bowl mix all the ingredients for the curried chickpeas and pour in a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake the chickpeas for 45 minutes, mixing the chickpeas halfway to ensure that all the chickpeas are evenly roasted
3. In a separate bowl, mix all the ingredients for the roasted vegetables except for the tomatoes and pour in a baking try lined with parchment paper. Place one half of a tomato on each corner of the baking tray and drizzle with a little olive oil on top with a small sprinkle of salt and pepper. Bake the veggies for 35 minutes.
4. While the veggies are baking, cook the couscous. In a pot add the water and salt then boil at medium heat till the water is at a rolling boil. When the water has boiled, add the couscous, cover the pot partially and turn the heat down to low. It is very important to cover the pot partially and cook at low as Isreali Couscous is technically a type of pasta and its cooking can cause excessive foaming and spilling over the pot. Once there is no visible puddle of water, fully cover the couscous. The total cooking time is about 10 minutes when the couscous has absorbed all water.
5. When the couscous is cooked and cool, mix in the chopped parsley and lemon juice.
6. The last thing to prepare is the kale. Chop the kale finely and massage the kale with you hands for 1-2 minutes. This softens the kale and reduces its bitterness. Feel free to add a little bit of lemon juice, which helps break the kale down further.
7. To assemble, serve all the components in the bowl and top with fresh olives and a generous drizzle of the creamy cashew dressing.