Don’t we all just love Buddha Bowls? But what’s the secret to getting a perfect bowl of happiness? A surprise in every bite. Adding a variety of colour, textures and flavours will make your bowl not only look great but taste darn good too. The star ingredient of our Buddha Bowl today is black rice. Cultivated in the panoramic paddies of Manipur, organically farmed and hand-harvested, this black rice will sure be a game-changer. It’s loaded with antioxidants and uniquely aromatic with a more complex and robust flavour.
Ingredients
1 cup Black Rice (pre-soaked for 2 hours)
1 tbsp olive oil
½ cup boiled chickpeas
1 small onion
1 cucumber
½ cup diced red bell pepper
Any more vegetable of your choice
½ cup walnuts for a crunchy topping
1 tsp whole black pepper
½ tsp sea salt
Dressing
1 cup hulled sesame seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
Method
Rinse the soaked rice 2-3 times. Put the rice in a saucepan and cover it with 2 cups of water. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and cook it for 35 minutes or until it’s perfectly plump and tender. Don’t be beguiled by its wild aroma or beautiful purple colour. Just saying!
While the rice is cooking, pressure cook the chickpeas.
While the rice and chickpeas are cooking, prepare your veggies by chopping them finely. Toss them in a pan with some olive oil, salt and freshly crushed pepper to your liking.
Put the cooked black rice and chickpeas in a mixing bowl, add the olive oil and sea salt, and toss to combine.
For the dressing
Add sesame seeds to a wide, dry saucepan over medium-low heat and toast, stirring constantly until the seeds become fragrant and very lightly coloured (not brown), 3 to 5 minutes. Careful here, sesame seeds can burn quickly.
Add sesame seeds to the bowl of a food processor then process until a crumbly paste forms, about 1 minute. Add 3 tablespoons of the oil then process for 2 to 3 minutes more, stopping to scrape the bottom and sides of the food processor a couple of times. Check the tahini’s consistency. It should be smooth, not gritty and should be pourable. You may need to process for another minute or add the additional tablespoon of oil.
Taste the tahini for seasoning then add salt to taste. Process 5 to 10 seconds to mix it in.
To Assemble
Add rice and chickpeas to the bowl. Fill the rest of the bowl with veggies. Sprinkle black sesame seed, chopped walnuts for some crunch and lastly add wedges of lime. Serve with the dressing drizzled over the top or on the side and enjoy.
If you recreate this recipe or make something even better do tag us so that we can learn a thing or two. :P