This salad bowl is brimming with flavour, texture and colour (obviously!). I love bowl food like this. You can easily leave out anything you don’t like or add other things you have on hand. The important things to tick off are all in the balance of things.

By this I mean, you want  to balance flavour, texture and get all those colours in. Use something roasted, something pickled, something fresh, throw in a grain and a legume. Have something green, red, yellow, orange and pink or purple! Make sure you have something creamy like avocado or a yummy dressing + something crunchy like nuts. This particular bowl has all those things and more.

You can prep it for lunches for the week and leave out anything you can’t get your hands on or don’t like! The ingredient list is long but the steps are pretty simple. And look, look how pretty it is!

My favourite thing about this salad are probably the sauce, pickled cabbage and fennel salad, chickpea salad and okay everything. The other good thing is you can make elements of this in larger quantities as stand alone sides when your having chicken burgers (chuck the roasties on the side instead of chips), sticky ribs (the fennel and cabbage slaw and the chickpea salad), or any of your favourite share food like hummus loaded with mince, or mushrooms  – the chickpea salad would again be amazing.

What’s your favourite thing to put in a buddha or nourish bowl (such wanky names but it’s what the people are calling them and apparently I’m a sheep).

 

Serves 4

Ingredients

1/4 small butternut pumpkin, diced into roughly 2cm cubes

1 sweet potato, diced into roughly 2cm cubes

2 tsp thyme leaves

1 tsp olive oil

1 small bunch kale

2 tsp olive oil

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 baby fennel

1/8 red cabbage

1/8 green cabbage

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 small tomato, cut in 1cm dice

1/2 lebanese cucumber, cut in 1 cm dice

1/ cup spring onion, finely sliced

2/3 cup cooked or canned chickpeas

1/2 yellow capsicum, cut in 1 cm dice

2 cups cooked quinoa

1 cup beetroot leaves, washed and shredded (can use any salad leaf)

1 vocado, cut in 2cm dice

1/4 cup dry roasted almonds

yoghurt sauce

2/3 cup yoghurt

1 beetroot, cooked

1 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius

Roasties: Toss pumpkin and sweet with thyme leaves and olive oil. Spread out on a lined tray and bake for 35 minute or until soft and starting to colour.

Slaw: Use a food processor, or a knife, to finely slice the cabbage and fennel (reserve fronds for garnish). Toss with 1/2 the lemon juice and zest. Set aside.

Chickpea salad: Combine tomato, cucumber, spring onion and chickpeas with the remaining lemon zest and juice. Season. Set aside.

Kale: Massage olive oil into kale leaves, lay in a single layer on a lined tray, sprinkle with salt and bake for ten minutes. remove and finely dice. Set aside.

Build bowls, start with quinoa, and then in a circle top with beetroot, fennel and cabbage mix,  beetroot leaves, roast root vegetables, avocado, capsicum, tomato and chickpea mix and kale. Spoon a few Tbs of sauce into the centre. Sprinkle with almonds and fennel fronds.

HH. x