I’ve never been the thaali gal. While I do enjoy the occasional sadya, I like my everyday food in a bowl where everything touches everything else and I can make it as soupy as I want. So whether I’m eating dal-chawal, teriyaki paneer, or lemon chicken with pasta, I happily serve myself in a bowl.
The only tricky part about a lunch bowl is assembling one fast. I’ve watched thousands of recipe videos for lunch bowls and while I would LOVE to build a wholesome, delicious bowl with 20 ingredients for lunch everyday, I rarely have the time to do so. I work ridiculous hours and on most days, I just need to put together something really quick and easy before my next meeting.
The key to making an achievable lunch bowl in 30 minutes is, you guessed it, meal prep. I’ve found that if I meal prep some part of my lunch bowl over the weekend or the night before, I can put it together easily during my lunch break and have some time leftover to enjoy it in peace.
I’ve broken this down in some detail and I hope this will help you too. To start with, let’s explore what makes a good bowl. I call these the 5 pillars for a yummy, wholesome bowl – with meal prep tips so you don’t spend your entire lunch break cooking.
The 5 pillars of an easy, delicious lunch bowl
1. Base: This could be rice, noodles, pasta, or any whole grain of your choice. Put this on to cook as soon as you enter the kitchen so it will cook while you set up the rest of your bowl.
2. Protein: Chicken breast, fish fillets, paneer, tofu – pick your favourite. Since this is for a quick lunch, you need something that will cook really quickly.
3. Veggies: You don’t need to fill your bowl with 5 different veggies everyday. Pick one or two and wash, peel, chop, and parcook over the weekend or the night before.
4. Sauce: This is the soul of your bowl so do not skip it. Depending on your recipe, you could make it in advance and have a jar ready in the fridge. Like this Teriyaki Sauce recipe.
5. Garnish: While this seems like a small thing, trust me – a dash of something fresh and green adds life to your bowl. Whether it is lemon juice and parsley or sesame seeds and spring onions – do not skip this.
How to assemble your lunch in 30 minutes
Step 1: Put your base to cook. Bonus points if you have leftovers that you just need to heat up.
Step 2: Marinate your protein for 10 minutes. If you’ve planned ahead, you could also marinate and put it in the fridge when you wake up in the morning.
Step 3: While your protein is marinating, cook veggies if needed and prepare garnishes.
Step 4: Cook the protein. Pan-frying is usually the easiest and quickest way to cook the proteins I’ve listed here.
Step 5: Assemble your bowl in this order: Base -> Protein & veggies -> Sauce -> Garnish. Enjoy!
With a little planning ahead, I promise you can make easy, yummy lunch bowls everyday. Watch my latest lunch bowl recipe video. While you’re checking it out, do consider subscribing to my YouTube channel if you enjoy my recipes.
Teriyaki Lunch Bowl Recipe Video
I hope you try to cook up your own versions of a lunch bowl. Let me know if you do and send me a picture via Instagram. I’d love to add it to my #CookingWithCookreja collection.