Super filling, super healthy and most importantly, super delicious!

This Mexican inspired bowl ticks all the boxes for me; it healthy, full of different plant based protein, fills me up, is super adaptable to whatever your have in the fridge and most importantly – seriously yummy! Plus it's gluten free and vegan so a great option if you are cooking for friends or family who are on a restricted diet.

Mexican inspired food (wouldn't dare call any of my “Mexican” recipes traditional Mexican food!) seems to have universal appeal. Have you ever met someone who doesn't love a good taco's or burritos? Me neither. Back in my catering days, whenever I made anything vaguely Mexican there was never any leftovers. Have you noticed how quickly the guacamole goes? The bowl is ALWAYS scraped clean. Which makes sense because well, guacamole is freakin delicious.

Considering how much I love guacamole, it might seem weird that this bowl uses fresh sliced avocado instead of guacamole. The reason being is that the green chilli and lime vegan mayo kinda plays the role of the creamy sauce and contrasts better with firm slices of avocado than mushy guacamole. I am obsessed with this mayo, so it's inclusion in this buddha bowl was a must! Even if it means no guacamole...... The mayo is just so fresh with the perfect hint of chilli and it really brings this dish together.

This bowl works really well for weekly meal prep. If you changed up a few key ingredients you could totally eat this 7 days in a row! Well I could anyway. For example instead of beans you could use tofu or shelled edamame and instead of sweet potato, maybe beetroot or pumpkin. Also in the interest of saving time, you could just serve plain beans instead of my spiced bean stew. Really the possibilities are endless. Just don't skimp on the mayo!

Mexican Bean and Sweet Potato Buddha Bowl

Prep and cooking time: Approximately 1 hour

Serves: 2

Dietary guide: This recipe is vegan and gluten free

Ingredients

1 red capsicum

1 medium sized sweet potato (about 300-350g)

3 tablespoons of olive oil

½ a teaspoon each of smoked paprika, ground cumin and ground coriander

2 teaspoons of polenta (optional)

1 avocado

1 ½ cups of cooked brown rice or a grain of your choice

1 bunch of broccolini

10 cherry tomatoes cut in half

½ cup of coriander washed and dried

2 lime wedges

1 long red chilli thinly sliced into rounds

1 tablespoon of chopped spring onion

¼ cup of sour cream or my vegan green chilli mayo (see end of the recipe)

For the beans*

1 brown onion

2 cloves of garlic crushed

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 ¼ teaspoon of smoked paprika

1 ¼ teaspoon of ground cumin

1 teaspoon of ground coriander

Pinch of cinnamon

1 stock cube (and a cup of water) or 1 cup of stock

1 ½ tablespoons of tomato paste

¼ cup of dry white wine

1 teaspoon of sugar or maple syrup

½ teaspoon of lemon juice

2 x cans or black beans or pinto beans

*This will make double the amount of beans you need. If you don't want any leftover beans just halve the recipe. If you want to cut down on prep, you can just used plain beans (drained and seasoned).

Method

Pre-heat the oven to it's highest setting. Cut the capsicum in half, rub a teaspoon of the olive oil on its skin and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the skin starts to blacken a little.
Whilst the capsicum is cooking, prep the sweet potato. Peel and chop the sweet potato into cubes or wedges. In a medium bowl toss the sweet potato with a good pinch of salt, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the spices and polenta (if using).
When the capsicums are ready, remove from the oven and turn the temperature down to 180. Place the hot capsicum in a container with a lid on (this helps to get the skin off later)
Place a new sheet of baking paper on the tray you used for the capsicums. Spread the sweet potato out evenly on the baking tray and bake for about 45 minutes turning at the half way point.
Next make the beans. Peel and chop the brown onion and place in a medium saucepan with the tablespoon of olive oil. Cook over medium heat for about five minutes. Add the crushed garlic, turn the heat down low and cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cumin, cinnamon, coriander and smoked paprika and cook stirring frequently for a further five minutes. Add the tomato paste and white wine and cook until the wine has reduced. Add the drained beans, stock cube and 1 cup of water (or 1 cup of stock) and sugar. Simmer the beans on a medium heat - stirring often. The beans are ready when they have reached a thick stew consistency (about 20 minutes).
Heat the remaining olive oil (about 1 tablespoon) in a large fry pan. Cook the broccolini for a few minute on both sides or until just done (keep it crunchy). Season with a little salt and pepper and set aside.
Now its time to get everything ready to assemble. Re-heat your rice if needed. Peel the skin off the capsicum and slice into large strips. Half and peel the avocado and sliced thinly.
To assemble divide the warm ingredients amongst two bowls - rice, sweet potato, broccolini and beans. Arrange the cold ingredients on the side -avocado, red capsicum, coriander, chilli, spring onion, lime and sour cream or mayo. Squeeze the lime over the top and enjoy.

For the lime and green chilli mayo

1 teaspoon of American mustard

2 tablespoon of soy milk

1 green chilli roughly chopped (remove the seeds if you want it miler) (optional)

1/4 cup of roughly chopped coriander stalk and leaves

100ml of mild flavoured vegetable oil

1 teaspoon of lime juice

¼ teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon sugar

1 small garlic clove

Method: Prepare the garlic by “creaming it” - grind the garlic and the salt in a mortar and pestle until it forms a rough paste. Add a teaspoon of the veg oil and mix together. Scrape out the creamed garlic into a 2 cup capacity jug. Add the soy milk, mustard and lime/lemon juice, coriander and green chilli. Emulsify for 30 seconds using a handheld stick blender. Add the oil in a slow stream whilst continuing to mix with the stick blender. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Refrigerate until needed – it will thicken up more in the fridge.