Start The Week On A High: Cumin Carrots & Egg Buddha Bowl

Sweet carrots are offset by spicy chipotle yoghurt, fresh mint and zingy lemon in this light and colourful lunch bowl. Ideal for days when it’s grey outside, its happy oranges and yellows will leave you with a summery feeling even in the depths of winter.

Ingredients
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into batons
light olive oil
sea salt
1 tsp cumin seeds
200g cooked freekeh, cooled
1 preserved lemon, finely diced
a small handful of fresh mint, finely chopped, plus some whole leaves, to garnish
a handful of stoned black olives, squished
extra-virgin olive oil
juice of ½ lemon
white wine vinegar
2 eggs
½ avocado, peeled, stoned and sliced
a handful of sprouting nuts and seeds such as peanuts
1 tsp toasted crushed almonds
chipotle yoghurt (see recipe below)

Method
Preheat your oven to 210°C/190°C fan/gas mark 7.

Parboil the carrot batons in boiling water for 10 minutes, then rinse and drain. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet and drizzle with a little olive oil and add a scrunch of salt. Bake for 35 minutes, turning occasionally, until the carrots start to colour up. Ten minutes before the carrots are done, sprinkle them with the cumin seeds.

In a bowl, mix together the cooked freekeh, preserved lemon, fresh mint, black olives and a glug of extra-virgin olive oil, season with salt and the lemon juice and set aside. To poach the eggs, heat a pan of water and add a scrunch of salt and a dash of white wine vinegar. When it’s at a rolling boil, crack the eggs into the water and cook for 2 minutes for soft-poached eggs, then remove with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen paper to drain.

Pile the freekeh, carrots, avocado and sprouting nuts and seeds into a bowl and sprinkle with the toasted crushed almonds. Top with the poached eggs, a large dollop of chipotle yoghurt and a scrunch of salt.

Chipotle Yoghurt

Ingredients
220ml Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp chipotle paste
juice of 1 lime

Method
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until just rippled and keep in the fridge until needed.

Extracted from Buddha Bowls (Pop Press, approx €11.30). Photography by The Kitchen Alchemist.