The Ultimate Salad Bowl recipe by Buffy Ellen

My mum came round one night years ago while I was making a simple roast veggie bowl, and said “why don’t you share more recipes like this?” So here it is – my ultimate salad bowl, not a side salad, a MEAL salad.

Here’s my formula:

1. Roast root veg – kumara, pumpkin, potato
2. Sprouts – chickpea, lentil, alfalfa
3. Raw veg (greens, tomatoes, cucumber, radish, capsicum, carrot – anything here)
4. Seeds – sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, hemp
5. Fermented /pickled veg – sauerkraut, pickled onions
6. Fresh herbs – parsley, basil, mint, coriander
7. A great dressing – the Orange Miso Dressing in this recipe is divine!

20 minutes and you’re done! If you try this recipe your own way, tag me on Instagram @begoodorganics – I’d love to see what you come up with.

Ingredients:

Method:

A few days before:

Sprouts: Put dry beans in a big bowl of water overnight (three times as much water as beans) and leave to expand. In the morning rinse and drain in a colander, place the colander over a bowl, and leave on the bench to sprout, rinsing and draining again each evening and morning, until they’ve grown small tails – normally 1-3 days.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150°C (300°F) on fan bake.
2. Root veg: Slice kumara in slices – just under 1cm thick, place in a single layer on a baking tray with 1 Tbsp of coconut oil, shake to cover, then bake for 18 minutes.
3. Creamy dressing: Meanwhile add all dressing ingredients except the oil to a blender and blend until smooth. Then turn the blender on low and slowly pour in the oil until it emulsifies and thickens.
4. Raw veg: Prep as you like, slicing thinly into sticks or rounds.
5. Seeds: Use seeds you’ve already soaked and dehydrated previously (this is what I do). Or just soak in a bowl of water overnight, drain and rinse (they won’t be as crunchy though). Or use raw.
6. Assemble each bowl as follows: big handful of greens on the bottoms, drizzle with 2 Tbsp of dressing, then layer in your roast veggies (1 cup per person), sprouts (1/2 cup per person), raw veg, herbs, sauerkraut (1/4 cup per person) and seeds (2 Tbsp per person). Pour over another 2 Tbsp of dressing in each bowl (4 Tbsp dressing in total per person). Season as you like and serve!

Recipe Notes

• Make it soy-free: replace the miso with 2 Tbsp coconut soy sauce/aminos. 
• This recipe is perfect for lunch the next day, so make a double batch. 
• The dressing makes 2 cups, and you only need 1/4 cup per person, so you will have 1 cup leftover but it’s so good you’ll want to drizzle it over all your other salads and veggies the rest of the week, or do what I’ve been doing this week and dipping corn chips or veggie sticks in it!
• You can purchase readymade sprouts, but homemade are really very easy, don’t take much effort, and are so much cheaper. Alternatively, you can use cooked beans e.g. chickpeas, kidney beans.
• Do NOT skimp on the dressing! 1/4 cup per person is definitely what you need. We haven’t added any seasoning or other fats to any of the other components so the dressing is what will flavour everything – trust me on this one. And do the double layer technique – part dressing on top of your greens, rest on top – this ensures consist flavour throughout and ultimate salad bowl taste sensation.
• I’ve used chia seed oil because it’s a fantastic source of omega 3 essential fatty acids, and has a nice neutral taste, leaving the orange and miso flavours to shine through. You can also use flaxseed oil, sacha inchi oil, or hemp oil which also all have fantastic omega 3 benefits (but stronger flavours). Or use a simple olive oil, macadamia oil or avocado oil.