RECIPE: Nourishing Mediterranean Bowl

mediterranean-bowl-recipe

My ultimate favorite cuisine that I will always and forever consider my go-to when it comes to starting a healthy diet is Mediterranean. It consists of simple and fresh ingredients / recipes, everything can easily be modified to be plant-based focused, and the flavors are light but bold in the slew of recipes that this type of cuisine offers. 

So today’s recipe is a nourishing Mediterranean bowl that combines some of my favorite flavors from my travels to this part of the world. It’s a simple combination of quinoa, curried  chickpeas, beet dip, dairy free tzatziki and more. This is a complete vegan recipe.

I used a lot of the ingredients that I received from Pangea Nutrition, which is a Mediterranean meal delivery service that I recently had the opportunity to test out.  They deliver groceries directly to your door with recipes to create extremely easy Mediterranean meals – so the hassle of trying to figure out what to cook throughout the week (cause we know you’re already busy), is solved! 

So in this one article you’re getting 3 recipes that are then going into one big bowl, hooray!

What Goes In The Mediterranean Bowl:

  • A scoop of dairy-free Tzatziki
  • A scoop of curried chickpeas
  • 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1/2 cup spinach
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Pinch of dried mint
  • Pinch of dried oregano
  • A scoop of beet dip
  • 1/2 avocado

Directions:

Cook desired amount of quinoa according to package instructions and set it aside. Prepare the remaining toppings via the directions below (beet dip, curried chickpeas, and dairy-free Tzatziki). Place the quinoa in a bowl, then top with a scoop of the Tzatziki, chickpeas and beet dip, sliced avocado, and a handful of spinach. Drizzle with olive oil and enjoy!


Beet Dip Recipe

  • 1 package of cooked beets (you can find these at Mariano’s here in Chicago or Trader Joes)
  • 1 cup of cooked chickpeas
  • 2 fresh basil leaves
  • pepper and himalayan salt to taste
  • 1 clove garlic
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

  1. Loosely chop the cooked beets
  2. In a food processor, blend the beets and chickpeas
  3. Add the lemon, vinegar, and olive oil and blend until smooth
  4. Add the garlic, basil salt and pepper and blend again until smooth
  5. Serve and enjoy!

 

Curried Chickpeas:

I love this curried chickpea recipe from The Pioneer Woman and was able to use a lot of ingredients from Pangea as well:

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
  • 1 whole Large Onion, Diced Fine
  • Salt And Pepper, to taste
  • 2 teaspoons Curry Powder, Any Variety
  • 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
  • 1 cup Vegetable Stock
  • 2 cans Chickpeas, Drained And Rinsed
  • 1 can (13.5 Ounce) Coconut Milk
  • 1 Tablespoon Honey, More To Taste
  • 1 Tablespoon Sriracha Or Hot Sauce (more To Taste)
  • Lime Wedges, For Serving (optional)
  • Cilantro Leaves, For Garnish

Directions:

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes, until the onions are soft and starting to turn golden. Sprinkle in the curry powder and garlic and stir, cooking for another minute or so. Pour in the vegetable stock and stir to scrape up all the brown bits in the pan. Add the coconut milk, honey and a squirt of sriracha. Bring to a boil, add the chickpeas, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt, honey, or Sriracha (or lime juice, if using.)

 

Vegan Tzatziki:

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup cashews soaked for a few hours
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 1 cucumber sliced or diced
  • 1 tbsp dried parsley
  • 1 tbsp dried dill
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Juice from 1 lemon
  • A few tbsp of water depending on the consistency of your Tzatziki (if it is too thick)

Directions:

In a food processor or blender place the soaked cashews, tahini, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and  garlic cloves, and blend until creamy, scrapping down the sides as necessary. Then, transfer the mixture in a large mixing bowl. Add and stir/blend in all remaining ingredients, adjusting the amount of each as necessary (depending on how strong of a particular seasoning you want to taste).

mediterranean-bowl-recipe

Oh! And while creeping through Pangea’s blog, I found this delicious looking walnut spinach salad recipe that would go great with this little Mediterranean bowl I whipped up, here’s a link to the post: 

They are also offering 50% off for first time users for the first week of groceries, you can learn about that cool deal here!
Disclaimer: Ingredients are courtesy of Pangea Nutrition, all wording and creative direction is our own.

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