Buddha Bowl With Sesame Brittle

If I had the opportunity to offer up my number one go-to healthy meal, right now, I think I’d have to go with the Buddha Bowl (or power bowl, or food bowl … it goes by many names). It’s endlessly versatile — just pick your favorite healthy ingredients, roast or saute if necessary, and mix ’em up as you see fit. And it’s really easy to feed a diverse crowd if you have a nice variety and allow everyone to serve themselves. Plus, if you have fresh greens at the ready, you can essentially create a Big Ass Salad!

While I don’t necessarily follow a specific recipe when I’m creating these at home, I really do love this Buddha Bowl recipe from The Super Big Book of Easy, Delicious, & Healthy Recipes the Whole Family Will Love because it’s not a huge time commitment (as long as you’ve got your sweet potato baked, at least) and it includes some really interesting flavors that I hadn’t included before. Sesame brittle! Who knew?

Buddha Bowl with Sesame Brittle

Hands-On Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: Serves 2

Sesame Seed Brittle

Ingredients

• 1⁄3 cup black sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon honey

Buddha Bowl

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and dried
• 1 large baked sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
• 4 cups baby kale
• 1 lemon, freshly juiced
• 1 1⁄2 cups cooked brown rice

Directions

1. In a small skillet, heat sesame seeds, sesame oil, and honey together over high heat. Stirring constantly, cook until honey begins to sizzle. Transfer immediately to a piece of parchment paper. Place in refrigerator or freeze until cool. Crack or crumble into bite-sized pieces.
2. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and chickpeas, frying chickpeas for 2 minutes. Add sweet potatoes to skillet and continue to sauté until sweet potato and chickpeas are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add honey and coconut aminos, then stir and cook until caramelized, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
3. In a large serving bowl, combine kale with lemon juice and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Toss to coat.
4. To assemble bowl, place kale and sweet potato mixture over brown rice. Top with sesame brittle. Enjoy hot or cold.

Per Serving: Calories: 860 | Fat: 38 g | Saturated fat: 6 g | Cholesterol: 0 mg | Sodium: 820 mg | Total carbohydrates: 117 g | Dietary fiber: 16 g | Sugars: 34 g | Protein: 20 g

As you might expect, this cookbook (and it is big!) truly is full of family-pleasing recipes, so if you like this, keep your eyes open because we’ll be sharing another one later this year!

What’s a must-have for your Buddha bowl? I feel like, if there’s no avocado, it’s just not done. —Kristen

Excerpted from The Super Big Book of Easy, Delicious, & Healthy Recipes the Whole Family Will Love! By Adams Media. Copyright © 2019 Simon and Schuster, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher. Interior photographs © Stockfood; Getty Images; Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.