Are you on Instagram? I have to say, it’s my favourite form of social media. What’s better than a constant stream of your favourite people’s photographs? You get a peek inside someone’s life, little snippets of their day. The interaction is fun too. Scrolling through the feed is one of my favourite ways to pass time when I need a little distraction. I mostly like to share recipes that I’m testing, meals, or some behind the scenes blog, book, and photography stuff. There are also some people, scenery, and travel shots, and of course, crazy Sketchie who is by far the fan favourite. Like when I shared a shot of him playing sabotaging our Monopoly game. Just when you least expect it Sketchie pops out of no where and kung fu kitties the dice across the room!
Did I mention that I came downstairs one morning and our entire unfinished Monopoly game was flipped upside down on the floor?
Only a cat…only a cat.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always bother plating my food nicely when I’m not photographing it; sometimes the only thing I care about is how quickly I can sit down to eat. I throw the food on the plate and that is that. Luckily, vegetables tend to look beautiful anyway (unless we’re talking about mushroom pesto…). But it is fun to put more effort into it now and then, especially when I want to impress the people I’m feeding or to get myself out of a food rut. Give me a colourful plate of food and I’m a happy girl.
The Big Vegan Bowl
Yield
2 large bowls
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Can’t you just imagine this bowl being served at a vegan restaurant? Well, why not make it in the comfort of your own home? It looks like it would take a long time to prepare, but it only set me back about 25 minutes of prep time. I simply roasted the sweet potato and chickpeas, cooked some quinoa on the stove top, and chopped a few veggies. It’s pretty laid back and you can tend to other things while it’s cooking. Due to the hummus and avocado, there’s no real need for a dressing unless of course you want to throw some on. My Lemon-Tahini dressing would be great on this, but it's great plain too. Next time you are in a lunch or dinner rut, give this a shot! It’s simple vegan food at its finest. Bowl idea inspired by Deliciously Ella.
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato, chopped into 3/4-inch cubes
- 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (about 1.5 cups)
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 large carrot, peeled & julienned
- purple cabbage or vegetable of choice, shredded
- couple handfuls of greens for the base (optional)
- lots of hummus
- sliced avocado
- hulled hemp seeds.
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Spread out the chopped sweet potato on one sheet. Drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon of oil or so and toss the potatoes until coated. Sprinkle with fine grain sea salt.
- For the roasted chickpeas: Drain and rinse the chickpeas and then place on a large tea towel and pat until completely dry. Discard any skins that fall off. Transfer the chickpeas to the baking sheet and drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon oil. Rub them around with your hands until lightly coated. Generously sprinkle with fine grain sea salt and your favourite spices. I like to use garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Toss gently to combine.
- Place both the sweet potato and chickpeas into the preheated oven. Roast for 15 minutes at 400F and then remove both. Flip the sweet potatoes and gently roll around the chickpeas. Place back in the oven for another 15 minutes or so, watching closely during the last 5 minutes. When the chickpeas are golden and the sweet potatoes are lightly browned on the bottom and fork tender, they are ready to come out.
- Meanwhile, cook the quinoa while the roasting is going on. In a fine mesh sieve, rinse the quinoa and then place in a medium pot. Add in 1.5 cups of water and stir. Bring the mixture to a low boil and then reduce the heat to low/medium and cover with lid. Simmer, covered, for about 14-17 minutes (you can check after 13 minutes), until all of the water is absorbed and the quinoa is fluffy. Remove from heat and leave the lid on to steam for another 5-10 minutes or longer if needed. Fluff with fork.
- Assemble the bowl: Add a couple handfuls of greens into a large shallow bowl. I had some leftover Best Kale Salad so I used that for my base. When the roasted veggies and chickpeas are done, allow the chickpeas to cool for 5 minutes and then add them on the salad followed by the sliced avocado, hummus, shredded veggies, and hemp seeds. See picture for how I plated it.
- Serve immediately and enjoy! You can use dressing if you'd like, but I don't usually bother. If you have leftover sweet potato and roasted chickpeas, you can place them in the fridge. Reheat in the oven at 400F for about 5-10 minutes.
Looking for a monster salad bowl? Try The Big Chopped Salad.
Hi! I love your website, I’ve been making a lot of vegan dishes and using them as inspiration for other dishes. One of my proudest moments was creating a vegan bowl based after yours for my friends birthday! Thank you for making so many available for free on your site!
Two months ago my neighbor gave me some of this delicious recipe. I made it again last night for supper! My 18 month old devoured it and I, who loves food, have rarely ate a flavour combination soooo perfect. Thanks a bunch…You are now our household go to person for simple, tasteful food! Who knew purple cabbage was soooo delicious? We usually have it cooked or in salads that are covered with vinaigrette! Thanks again!
Made a whittled-down version of this for my lunch today and it was really lovely! thank you :)
your recipes are such a great inspiration! Keep sharing the love :)
http://www.ruseberry.com/2015/09/benefits-of-going-vegan.html
That fork!! :O
Im making this today :) Out of hummus though – maybe extra avocado!
WOW!! This bowl recipe looks amazing! http://www.lovesthefind.com/
I am eating this right now (minus the hemp seeds)- delicious! Thanks for a great recipe!
Thank you for dinner tonight! :)
I love eating this way, but I’m never creative enough to come up with combos myself. I had a bag of frozen root vegetables in the freezer that I’m using in place of the sweet potatoes. And I dressed the cabbage with a little ACV and sesame seeds. I love the combination of textures and flavors.
Great thinking!
This has been a staple in our house for a while now! Delicious…i have prepared it for some friends as well as a surprise lunch…the skepticals were shocked at how full they felt hours afer! Thank you for this bowl of happiness!
Hi there, I’m so happy to hear the recipe was a hit!
Do you know how many calories per serving in this dish?
Hi Karen, Unfortunately, I don’t have the calorie calculation on hand, but if you plug the ingredients you use into an online nutrition calculator like nutritiondata.com or caloriecount.com (or even a free app!), you’ll be able to find out what you’d like to know fairly quickly. Hope this helps!
I just did the calculation, it’s actually surprisingly many, if you count this dish for two portions, then its around 700 kcal per portion, that’s a lot for just one meal. Think I will cut this in four.
I just went to a vegan restaurant and paid $18 for a grain bowl! If you use the lemon tahini dressing you can just have endless options for what goes in the bowl. Rice or whatever grain on the bottom, lettuce/kale/spinach then whatever veggies or sweet potatoes roasted are lovely. This lemon tahini dressing is great and better than the one on my $18 bowl! The hummus is great too but this is so versatile and it can be anything you want.
WOW!
This is unreal, from a skeptic who thinks that everything needs meat, oh my god. I could eat this all day, every day.
I’m so happy to hear this vegan bowl won you over, Mike! :)
This looks absolutely delicious! Can’t wait to try it today for dinner!
Oh my, this looks lovely! It’s crazy how much they charge for these kind of bowls at cafes and restaurants, when it’s actually so easy to make at home! x
Looks amazingly delicious and healthy! Was looking for this recipe for a while. Will try it tonight. Hope it turns out same as yours. :-)
Thanks Angela! You rock.
Delectable… I’m not vegan or even vegetarian, but I try to focus on eating lots of colorful veggies, and this dinner was right up my alley! Even my carnivore husband loved it. I added blanched broccoli tossed with sesame oil, instead of the carrots. And I threw a littke green goddess dressing on the greens, and drizzled the hummus with some good EVOO. We passed a bowl to my neighbor and she loved it too!
My biology teacher always used to use the cover image in her powerpoints about nutrition, digestion and such and now I finally have the recipe !!!
Very good and flavorful! I have my whole family eating it and it was a HIT! They even had seconds!