Buddha bowl of zoodles with polenta frittata, pesto and lentil salad

If you want to make yourself a healthy combination dish, this vegan recipe, inspired by Italian cuisine, is ideal: it is easy to prepare, tasty and very balanced.

The buddha bowl has the advantage that they allow you to make surprising combinations and various influences. In this recipe the elaborations are inspired by Italian cuisine, made with typically Mediterranean ingredients and full of flavor.

As it is a vegan buddha bowl, in the recipe we follow the proportions of the Harvard dish adapted to the vegetable diet. Lentils and vegan Parmesan cheese provide the protein base. In weight, by using flax seeds, we enrich the dish with healthy omega-3 fats.

RECIPE ELABORATION BY ELABORATION

Preparation time: 1 h 45 min
Servings: 4-6

This buddha bowl is composed of the following elaborations:

• Celery turnip and carrot zoodles with arrabiata sauce
• Vegan Parmesan
• Baked polenta frittata with dried tomato
• Linen pesto and celery leaves
• Caviar lentil salad with capers and basil

There are five elaborations, but as you will see now, they are prepared immediately. You just have to be careful to prepare the sauce the day before, because it needs a day of rest.

Let’s see each elaboration one step by step:

CELERIAC AND CARROT ZOODLES WITH ARRABIATA SAUCE

These zoodles are served with arrabiata sauce on top and sprinkled with vegan Parmesan. You can decorate them with a fresh basil leaf.

Ingredients:

• 2 thick carrots, peeled
• 1 small bulb of peeled celery
• water
• salt
• ice

For arrabiata sauce:

• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 150 g fried tomato sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 chilli pepper, seeded, finely chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
• Fresh basil leaves for garnish (optional)
• olive oil

Elaboration:

1. Sauté the onion and garlic chopped with oil and salt, until golden brown. Add tomato sauce, chilli and oregano. Mix well and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Using a vegetable cutter or spiralizer, laminate the celery and carrot into strips imitating spaghetti.
3. Blanch these “pastes” briefly in salted water, cool with water and ice, drain and set aside.
4. Serve the zoodles in about a quarter of the buddha bowl, decorated, if you like, with fresh basil, and arrabiata sauce and parmesan on top.

VEGAN ALMOND PARMESAN

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 4 tablespoons ground almonds
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• Tamari sauce placed in a sprayer

Elaboration:

1. Mix the nutritional yeast very well, with garlic, spices and ground almonds.
2. Once the parmesan is spread over the zoodles (if you have leftovers, you can use it for pizza), spray with a little tamari.

BAKED POLENTA FRITTATA WITH DRIED TOMATO

The frittata is made in the oven and cut into triangles.

Ingredients:

• 100 g polenta
• 300 ml water
• 3 halves chopped sun-dried tomato
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon. soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bay leaf

Elaboration:

1. Make an infusion with water, chopped dried tomatoes, oregano, garlic and bay leaf. Infuse for about 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and discard.
2. Bring the infusion back to a boil, lower the heat and gradually add the polenta in the form of rain, without stopping stirring.
3. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and soy sauce, stir until the polenta paste peels off the bottom of the pot.
4. Spread a round cake pan with olive oil and spread the hot polenta. Wait for it to cool and solidify.
5. Preheat the oven with fan up and down to 200 °C. Unmold and cut the polenta into 8 triangles. Brush with a little oil on both sides and place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
6. Bake for 10 minutes on one side, turn the pieces and bake another 5 minutes until golden on the outside.
7. Wait for them to temper to serve two triangles of frittata per buddha bowl.

LINEN PESTO AND CELERY LEAVES

Ingredients:

• 50 g celery leaves, washed and dried
• 1 garlic clove
• 20 g raw almonds without skin soaked from the night before
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon. lemon juice
• 50 ml virgin olive oil
• 5 g sea salt

Elaboration:

1. Drain the almonds and lightly toast them in a pan without oil.
2. Chop the almonds coarsely and mix with the other ingredients in the blender glass. Crush and reserve a few minutes before serving.
3. Put a couple of tablespoons of pesto for each piece of polenta frittata.

CAVIAR LENTIL SALAD WITH CAPERS

Ingredients:

• 200 g cooked caviar lentils
• 40 g pickled and drained capers
• 8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1/2 lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• sea salt

Elaboration:

1. Mix the cooked lentils with the capers, chopped basil, a tablespoon of olive oil with soy sauce and lemon juice on one side.
2. Season the cherry tomatoes with a teaspoon of salt and another of dried oregano, and reserve in the fridge to macerate. At the time of serving, mix all the ingredients and season with the remaining olive oil.
3. Serve in about a quarter of the buddha bowl.