This Vegan Buddha Bowl features quinoa topped with crispy tofu along with roasted sweet potatoes, cauliflower, asparagus, and an easy lemon tahini dressing.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius).
To cook quinoa, first rinse in a fine-mesh strainer. (This will help take the bitterness out of the quinoa’s outer coating.)
Then, pour quinoa into a small saucepan with 1 ¾ cups of water and ½ teaspoon of salt.
When the water comes to a boil, turn down the heat to medium-low, cover pot, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the liquid has evaporated. Let it sit for 5 few minutes and then fluff with a fork.
While quinoa is cooking, prep your vegetables. Rinse cauliflower, pat dry, then cut out its core. Then cut the rest of the cauliflower into large, bite-sized florets. Peel sweet potato, then cut into ¾-inch cubes. Rinse asparagus, pat dry gently, and snap or cut off the bottom inch of the stalk. If your asparagus stalks are as thick as your finger, peel the bottom ⅔ of the stalk with a vegetable peeler.
Next, line two large sheet pans with parchment paper or foil.
On one pan, toss asparagus with a tablespoon of olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper.
Combine the cauliflower florets and sweet potato chunks in a large bowl, and toss with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, ½ teaspoon of salt, and ¼ teaspoon of pepper.
Then spread out over second sheet pan, keeping the vegetables to just one layer.
Put the sheet pan with the cauliflower and sweet potato into the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Then open the oven, stir vegetables with a spatula, and add the sheet pan with the asparagus to another rack in the oven. Roast for another 10 minutes, then stir again and check to see if vegetables are tender by piercing with a fork or the tip of a knife. If necessary, roast for another 5 minutes. Vegetables should be lightly browned.
Meanwhile, prepare the tofu.
Drain tofu and pat very dry with a paper towel. Slice into ¾-inch cubes.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
Add tofu cubes and sauté until lightly browned, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes.
Make the lemon tahini dressing by whisking together tahini paste, lemon juice, and olive oil.
Whisk in 1-2 tablespoons of water to thin the dressing as you like. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
To serve, put a scoop of quinoa into your bowl or on a plate with raised edges. Add servings of roasted cauliflower, sweet potato, asparagus, and tofu. Drizzle with lemon tahini dressing.
Notes
Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for at least 3 days. Store dressing separately from quinoa, tofu, and vegetables if possible.
This recipe is very flexible—feel free to switch out vegetables or protein for what you have on hand. A non-vegan version using pan-roasted chicken breasts is delicious, or sautéed shrimp. If you change vegetables, just take care to roast things together that have a similar cook time. And/or cut the vegetables into different sized chunks—larger potato chunks will take longer to cook, for example, than smaller ones.
Keep in mind that brands of tahini differ in consistency and differ in how much the solids separate from the oils. Make sure you mix the tahini together as much as possible before using, if it has separated. And you may need to adjust the amount of water or other ingredients in your recipe depending on whether your tahini is very thick or not.
To add a little sweetness to the dressing, you can also whisk in a ½ teaspoon of maple syrup, if you like.
For extra texture, you could top off your bowl with sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, or chopped nuts.