7 nourish bowls you can make from leftovers and your condiment compartment
The world calls them nourish bowls or buddha bowls… I call them lazy bowls. It’s time to reap the benefits from your leftovers and condiment compartment to make quick delicious meals.
My guide for making a bowl is made up of differing layers. I talk about this a lot, you can find more information here, here and here. The layers are:
The base
Rice, quinoa, noodley things, freekeh, lentils, mashed potato, even greens, and the list goes on.
The veggies
Raw and crunchy, roasted in spices, thin sliced, zoodled, braised, sauteed, charred. Don’t forget, you can use your herbs, which have so much flavour, like a leafy green too – think: a good handful or 2 of basil stirred through.
The meat/protein
Egg, seared chicken, slow baked chicken thigh, tofu, tempeh, nuts, cheese, broccoli, mushrooms and so many more.
The toppings
Fresh fruit, dried fruit, herbs, toasted nuts and seeds, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice or lemon zest, salt, pepper, goats cheese, sheep milk feta, coconut yoghurt, green Sicilian olives, black olives, semi-dried tomatoes, dhukka, sesame oil, different vinegars, fresh herbs.
Your toppings are your flavour bombs – this is where you can make magic, even if you had a really simple bowl of leftover rice, charred broccolini, seared chicken… add some toasted coconut or sesame seeds, maybe kimchi and sesame oil. These are ingredients that live in your cupboard or fridge and are waiting to be utilised. Ingredients that can cut your cooking time and effort in half or more if you simply, use them.
You’ll notice, there’s a bit of an overlap, a bunch of greens could be your base or they could be a part of your veggie area. They’re all flexible, the one category that doesn’t really change is the toppings and this is because they’re flavourful and the area that can provide the most YUM, with the littlest effort. Maybe we could change this category to be called The Unicorn toppings.
NOURISH BOWL #1 Rocket, cabbage, carrot, cucumber, dill, sheeps feta, olives, jammy egg, chilli flakes, salt, pepper.
NOURISH BOWL #2 Mixed lettuce, carrot, cherry tomatoes, avo, sauteed broccolini, mushrooms, sheep feta, kimchi, dried herbs, fried egg, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper.
NOURISH BOWL #3 Chunky ham, mixed lettuce, goat cheese, picalilli pickles, olives, extra virgin olive oil, sourdough, salt, pepper.
NOURISH BOWL #4 Everything chopped to a similar size: nectarine, grapes, cucumber, roasted beetroot with mixed lettuce, sheep feta, jammy egg, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper.
NOURISH BOWL #5 Quinoa, cabbage, pickled onions, tomato, cucumber, seedy cracker, coconut yoghurt, jammy egg, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper.
NOURISH BOWL #6 Brown basmatic rice, quinoa, roasted mushrooms, capsicum, zucchini and sweet potato, tomato, olives, kimchi, hummus.
NOURISH BOWL #7 Rocket, cucumber, roasted capsicum, pate, haloumi, sourdough, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper.
