The ever present need to come up with new, exciting dishes as a food blogger means that I constantly evolve my cooking. I make the same dish like five times in a row in an effort to perfect it for a recipe and then not make it again for ages as I’m busy chasing the next best thing. In practice it means that my cooking constantly feels very improvised.
To compensate for all this chopping (literally, lots of chopping on a daily basis 😉 ) and changing, I’ve developed a bit of a lunch routine as that’s one meal I cannot afford to spend too much time on – I’m usually half way through testing a new dinner or dessert or shooting the end result. So today’s recipe is pretty much what we have for lunch every single day with some degree of variation depending on what I currently have on hand, what is in season and what new dressing I’m experimenting with. Although some people scrunch up their nose at the ‘buddha bowl’ concept, I’m a massive fan of them. I find them satisfying, filling, full of colour and texture and easy to throw together. Nourishing dishes like this vegan buddha bowl stave off hunger for ages and leave you feeling full, healthy and happy.
50 g / 2 oz baby spinach 1 medium beetroot, coarsely grated ½ small quick-pickled red onion ½ avocado, peeled and sliced 6 Kalamata olives, pitted and halved 1 baby zucchini / courgette, shredded into zoodles 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds / pepitas
DRESSING
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1½ tbsp lemon juice 1 garlic clove, unpeeled 1 tsp sambal oelek (Indonesian chilli paste) salt, to taste pepper, to taste
