Quarantine Grain Bowl with an avocado dressing recipe

How’s your quarantine going so far? This is my most used greeting of the last few months. Anyway, hope yours is going as good as it can!

I have so many grains in my pantry in both raw and canned form, so I decided to put them to use today. This is my take a on a simple but delicious Grain Bowl, for all meal-preppers, this is for you. Also, I think we all can use a little boost in our immune system, right? So here it is.

INGREDIENTS

Grain bowl

1 cup of cooked quinoa (any type).

1 cup of cooked white rice.

1 cup of fava beans, cooked.

1 cup of black beans, cooked.

1 cup of cooked chickpeas.

1 tsp of kosher or pink salt.

1 tsp of black pepper.

1 tsp of garlic powder.

1 tsp of ground chiles, plus extra for garnish.

1 tsp of olive oil.

1 can of tuna.

1 cup of yellow corn.

1/2 cup red onion, chopped.

1 fresno pepper, finely chopped.

1 halved lime.

Optional: chopped spinach (I’m using green collards today).

For the dressing

2 medium avocados.

1 tsp kosher or pink salt.

2 tbsp of any white vinegar (I’m using champagne vinegar because that’s all I have).

1 cup of cilantro (I’m using cilantro stems, again, that’s all I have).

1 cup of water.

The juice of 2 limes.

1 tsp black pepper.

¼ cup of good olive oil.

Optional: 2 tbsp of crème fraiche.

PROCEDURE

1. Prepare dressing by adding all ingredients at the same time in a blender, blend until smooth and reserve.

2. Adding flavor to chickpeas. Heat olive oil in a medium pan in high heat. Add chickpeas, ground chiles and garlic powder and cook by stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. Remove from fire and reserve.

3. Add all “grain bowl” ingredients into a large bowl, except for the lime. Fold everything carefully, try not to make a paste, but a salad.

4. Add 3-4 tablespoons of dressing into the grain bowl and fold carefully again.

5. To plate, add a few tablespoons of dressing to the bottom of your plate, add mixture on top and some more greens, crème fraiche and some lime. You can add more ground chile on top to taste (I’m using Aleppo pepper).

This recipe is 100% fridge friendly, just keep the grain mixture and dressing stored separately and you'll have a meal for a week!

Stay safe! Wear a mask and wash your hands!