RECIPE: Asian-Inspired Buddha Bowl with Butternut Squash Falafels & Peanut Sauce

Hey friends! I hope you’re all having a great, healthy day! If you saw my lunch on Instagram today, you’ll definitely want to try it out. I never get tired of these kinds of dishes.

Buddha bowls, which are also called glory bowls or hippie bowls, are a catch-all name for hearty mixed dishes that usually contain an assortment of the following:

• Whole grain (rice, quinoa, barley, etc.)

• Beans, tofu, lentils, or sometimes meat (i.e. chicken)

• Raw or roasted vegetables

• Nuts, seeds, or other healthy fat (i.e. avocado)

• Sauce

These are GREAT for getting a variety of foods and food groups in a [usually] plant-based meal. The variety here gets you a range of vitamins & minerals as well as plenty of fiber, protein, and complex carbohydrates to keep you full and fueled for the day.

The tricky downside is that you need to carefully watch your portion sizes of each food you throw in there; it’s so easy for your eyes to be bigger than your stomach (or your stomach’s needs, at least) and eat larger portions than you need! Psychology actually confirms this: when the variety of a food is greater, we subconsciously eat more of it. Try loading up your bowl with the veggies first, and keep the portions of whole grains and beans/lentils and sauces moderate.

Anyway, you’re here for to find out how I actually made this particular delicious Buddha bowl. This bowl contains:

• Brown rice & quinoa mix (cooked separately and mixed together)

• Broccoli florets, steamed

• Red bell pepper, raw, sliced

• Carrots, raw, matchstick style

• Green onions, raw, chopped

• Greens: mix of kale, red cabbage, and broccoli stalks (purchased packaged, pre-chopped)

• Butternut squash falafels

• Peanut sauce

Without the last two items, that’s already eight different foods, including six different vegetables! Talk about variety!

To make the butternut squash falafels…

…I followed the recipe created by dietitian and blogger, Once Upon a Pumpkin. Find the recipe here. I absolutely love the flavors of the turmeric and sesame seeds with these, and the only thing I changed about this recipe for my personal taste is that I used less cumin. I love that this incorporates chickpeas into the Buddha bowl as a bean, but in a sneaky way! These are an incredible source of fiber and make for a great meatless dish; the kind where you don’t miss the meat at all!

I have also made these baked falafels using sweet potatoes instead of butternut squash, and they are just as tasty. I imagine pumpkin falafels would also be fantastic.

The peanut sauce…

…is what ties the whole dish together (doesn’t the sauce always do that?!) I originally started using a recipe I found years ago on AllRecipes.com, but lately I have been eyeballing portions and adding things here and there. Here is what I recommend whisking together in a bowl:

• 1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

• 2-3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 tsp white, granulated sugar

• 1 Tbsp lemon or lime juice (optional)

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less to taste OR hot sauce of your choice)

• 1 Tbsp chopped peanuts (optional)

• ¾ – 1 cup of water*

*Add ½ cup of water, then slowly add more as needed to thin out the mixture as you whisk.

The sauce will look odd and chunky at first, but it will thin out as you keep whisking! Sometimes I pour the whisked sauce into a pan to heat up a little bit as well. Add a little more water and stir continuously if you do this.

Drizzle the sauce over the grains and veggies, and top the bowl off with the green onions!

Bon Appétit!

If you try these recipes or make your own Buddha bowl creation, tag and show me @OnTheMoveNutrition!

Cheers & Namaste!

-JMJ