Avocado Grain Bowl With Beet Ginger Dressing

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Enjoy a hearty and healthy vegetarian recipe that’s beautiful, too.

Avocado grain bowl with beet ginger dressing
Photo: Greg Dupree
Servings:
4

A good grain bowl is about more than piling healthful ingredients and calling it dinner. In fact, because the ingredients are front-and-center, it matters that the mixed grains are well-seasoned and joined by other tasty, well-chosen ingredients. Here, it's a combination of rice, lentils, and quinoa that form the base of the dish.

The grain bowl gets topped with shaved fennel and creamy avocado, plus a photo-worthy fuchsia dressing made from beets, ginger, and kefir. Truth be told, the heartbeet of this bowl is the vibrant, earthy dressing. The grand finale is a confetti of hemp seeds and greens. To make this dish vegan, blitz beets with unsweetened canned coconut milk instead of kefir.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup red rice or short-grain brown rice

  • 2 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt, divided

  • ½ cup dried brown lentils, rinsed

  • ½ cup rainbow quinoa

  • ¼ cup olive oil, divided, plus more for serving

  • ¼ cup plain whole-milk kefir

  • 1 8.8-oz. pkg. steamed beets (such as Love Beets), chopped (1¾ cups)

  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)

  • 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (from a 1-in. piece)

  • 2 avocados, halved, pitted, and peeled

  • 1 small bulb fennel, thinly sliced

  • ¼ cup hemp seeds

  • baby greens, flaky sea salt, and crushed red pepper, for serving

Directions

  1. Place 3½ cups water, rice, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

  2. Stir in lentils; cover and cook for 10 minutes.

  3. Stir in quinoa; cover and cook until grains are tender and all water is absorbed, 12 to 15 minutes.

  4. Remove lid, cover pan with a clean dish towel, and replace lid. Let stand for 10 minutes.

  5. Spread grains on a rimmed baking sheet and let cool for 10 minutes. Toss grains with 3 tablespoons oil and ½ teaspoon kosher salt on baking sheet. (Grains can be made up to 3 days ahead; store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.)

  6. Meanwhile, place kefir, beets, lemon juice, ginger, and remaining ¾ teaspoon kosher salt and 1 tablespoon oil in a blender. Process until smooth, about 30 seconds.

  7. Spoon beet mixture on 1 side of each plate and spread with back of a spoon into a half-moon shape.

  8. Top with grains mixture, avocado, fennel, hemp seeds, and baby greens. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and crushed red pepper. Drizzle with oil.

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