By Erin Brighton, www.campbrighton.com
Have y’all eaten at Cava or Yafo? Both places are famous for their DIY grain bowls. My kids LOVE getting food from Yafo in Charlotte. Such a treat. So much flavor! This week, we did make your own grain bowls but changed it up a little with some amazing vadouvan spiced chickpeas. Wowzer. So delicious!! Scroll to the bottom for the super simple vadouvan spiced cocktail recipe.
So many of the ingredients in this grain bowl are from my amazing farmers market, but you can find just about everything you need at your own grocery or farmers market.
These grain bowls were definitely my favorite meal of the week and it lasted for two dinners and one lunch. Winning! One of the best parts of this meal is that you can prepare all of your ingredients and let your kids make their own. My kids love ANYTHING that is DIY.
What Are The Ingredients in a Grain Bowl?
For our grain bowls, we actually used riced cauliflower, not rice – but you can use either as your base. I have made lemon rice in my rice cooker and used that as a base – super easy and lots of flavor.
I had baby bok choy from the farmers market in my crisper drawer, so I chopped that up to sauté for my greens. Any sautéed green can work in a grain bowl – you could even saute some broccoli and crispy garlic. If you prefer something cool and crispy, you could use lettuce or chopped kale for your greens layer.
For our main source of protein – I made falafel – I swear by the Trader Joe’s falafel mix. Add water, let it sit. Form into little falafel balls. Bake or cook in a little oil. So good. You can also buy a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store and pull off some fresh, hot chicken. My kids love it when I do this.
Don’t Forget Cool Veggies!
To top our grain bowls, I also made a little Lebanese salata with chopped tomatoes, Persian cucumbers, parsley, and some red wine vinegar. Persian cucumbers are very similar to English cucumbers except that they are very small! However, just like English cucumbers, you don’t need to peel them. Just chop and go.
Spicy Cilantro Schug? Yes, Please.
Yafo makes an amazing spicy cilantro schug and that sauce has truly been bringing me life. I could eat it with a spoon, to be honest.
DIY Grain Bowls … To Cook or Not To Cook?
For our DIY grain bowls, sometimes I cook some of the ingredients – like falafel – and sometimes I just gather up as many ingredients I can find that require minimal preparation and hope for the best. Either way, you cannot go wrong. For our grain bowls this week, I decided to try something new and cook chickpeas. We often use chickpeas in our grain bowls, but I had never baked them before.
Baked Chickpea Specifics
Vadouvan Spiced Chickpeas might be our new family favorite snack. They were delicious on our grain bowls, but they also were fantastic on their own. Vadouvan is a French version of an Indian spice blend. I bought it already prepared – check your grocery stores for a version – or make it yourself. Epicurious has a great vadouvan spice blend recipe if you are adventurous. This recipe would also work with garam masala – a powdered Indian spice blend found in just about every grocery store – or simply use a combination of cumin, paprika, and salt.
Vadouvan Spiced Chickpeas Ingredients
1 can chickpeas, drained
1/4 c olive oil (approx.)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 T vadouvan spice
Salt
Vadouvan Spiced Chickpeas Directions
Place chickpeas in a loaf pan – cover with olive oil. Add chopped garlic, vadouvan spice and some salt. Stir to coat well.
Cook at 425 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
If you don’t have vadouvan spice, use a combination of cumin, paprika, and salt.
If you have extra oil, no problem. Don’t drain it. It will taste great on your grain bowl.
DIY Cava Grain Bowl Final Thoughts
Layer everything together and enjoy! My kids love anything DIY, so I usually put everything in small bowls and let them help themselves. Less work for you, friends!
