Enjoy a nutrient-dense meal seitan style with Buddha’s Delight. It’s the ultimate veggie-packed dish that features loads of flavor and one of our favorite meat alternatives!
Sometimes I go for decadent, cheesy, appetizer-style meals (hello queso and mozzarella sticks, and other times I decide that I should give my body as many nutrients as humanly possible.
When I’m feeling the latter, vegetable-packed dishes are usually my go-to. And recently, one meal that’s been checking off all of the boxes is Buddha’s delight – a heaping bowl of greens and goodies that provides oodles of vitamins and minerals.
Buddha’s Delight is traditionally a Chinese dish served on Lunar New Year. Its ingredients vary, but often include dried shiitake mushrooms, dried lily buds, and bean curds (to name a few). It should be noted that our recipe is not an authentic version, but rather one that can be replicated with the ingredients found in most Western pantries.
This Buddha bowl recipe is filled with everything from carrots and broccoli to sesame seeds and sliced green onion. For the protein source, we’re using seitan – a meatless alternative with a great texture and an even better taste (thanks to all of the spices and flavorings we’re using!).
Buddha’s delight ingredients
Get excited, because the ingredients in this dish are going to blow your taste buds away. We’ll start with an array of mixed veggies, and then we’ll dive into the sauce (the place where the true flavor magic starts to happen.
Veggies
We’ll start off by sautéing a nice selection of vegetables. You can go choose-your-adventure here, but I recommend mushrooms, bok choy, broccoli florets, snow peas, carrots, and/or bell peppers!
Sauce
As for the sauce, this is where we get a lot of our savory flavor. It will be a blend of 5 ingredients — toasted sesame oil, freshly grated ginger, minced garlic, soy sauce, and honey. The salty mixed with the sweet creates an absolutely mouth watering flavor.
Assembly
Finally, the assembly portion of this dish calls on its own ingredients. First up is 8 oz of seitan cut into bite sized pieces. We’ll sauté this in a splash of oil before adding the veggies back to the pan, including 1 8-oz can of drained bamboo shoots! Finally, top with sliced green onions and sesame seeds to serve.
How to make this Buddha’s delight recipe
The how-to for this recipe is broken into four parts. We’ll start by cooking the vegetables, followed by the sauce and the seitan. Then, we’ll simply assembly everything into overflowing, savory (but refreshing!), delicious Buddha’s delight bowls!
Step 1: Cook the veggies
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan or wok (the largest you have) over medium/high heat. Add the sliced veggies, salt, and pepper. Cook until the veggies are slightly softened and golden at the edges, 8 to 10 minutes.
Step 2: Prepare the sauce
Meanwhile, add sesame oil to a small pan and heat over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic and cook for about 3 minutes, until soft and fragrant. Stir in the remaining sauce ingredients to warm, and remove from the heat and set aside.
Step 3: Cook the seitan
Remove the veggies from the large sauté pan and add another splash of oil. Heat over medium/high and then add the seitan. Cook, shaking often, until the seitan is gold around the edges, 5 to 7 minutes.
Step 4: Assemble the dish
To the pan with the seitan, add the cooked veggies, bamboo shoots, and sauce. Toss evenly to combine. Serve warm, topped with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.
Make it vegan
Whether or not this recipe is vegan comes down to just one ingredient… the honey! Some vegan eaters say it’s okay, while others prefer to leave it to the bees. If you don’t eat honey and but want to enjoy this bowl in all of its vegan goodness, simply replace the honey with equal parts brown sugar, agave nectar, or maple syrup.
More vegetable bowl recipes
I know, I know. You want more large and in charge veggie bowls filled with all of the ingredients and all of the flavor! Well, don’t worry. I have you covered. And yes, the veggie egg roll in a bowl is… *chef’s kiss.*
Ingredients
Veggies
- 1 Tbsp oil 15 mL
- 6 cups chopped veggies can include mushrooms, bok choy, broccoli florets, snow peas, carrots, peppers etc.
- ¼ tsp each salt and pepper
Sauce
- 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil 15 mL
- 1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup soy sauce 60 mL
- 1 Tbsp honey 15 g
Assembly
- 8 oz seitan cut into bite-sized pieces, 226 g
- 1 Tbsp oil 15 mL
- 1 8-oz can bamboo shoots drained, 226 g
- To serve: sliced green onions, sesame seeds
Instructions
- Veggies: Heat oil in a large saute pan or wok (the largest you have) over medium/high. Add sliced veggies, salt, and pepper. Cook until veggies are slightly softened and golden at the edges, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Sauce: Meanwhile, add sesame oil to a small pan and heat over medium. Add ginger and garlic, cooking until soft and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir in remaining sauce ingredients to warm, then remove from heat and set aside.
- Seitan: Remove veggies from the large saute pan and add another 1 Tbsp of oil. Heat over medium/high, then add seitan. Cook, shaking often, until seitan is golden around the edges, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Assemble: To the pan with the seitan add back in the veggies, bamboo shoots, and sauce. Toss to evenly combine. Serve warm, topped with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.
Sus says
Made the Seiten first and then this recipe. Loved it. Made some rice also. The sauce was just right and the Seiten was crispy good. Every recipe I’ve used from Sarah has been consistently great. Started with the Kombucha
Sarah says
So happy to hear it, Sus! Enjoy! 😀