The Whole Bowl

Whenever I am in Portland, I have to get a bowl of The Whole Bowl.  I first heard about The Whole Bowl when I worked at Euro RSCG for a summer internship.  It was a food cart in the Pearl District, and it was only open a few days a week for lunch.  After my first experience, I was hooked!  One of my favorite things was to grab a bowl and head to the nearest park to watch locals play bocce on my lunch hour.  Spencer and I have visited Portland twice together.  On the first trip I insisted that he try The Whole Bowl, on the second, it was [one of] our top priority[s] for the trip.

So, what is in The Whole Bowl that makes it so delicious?  Just by looking at a bowl, you can tell what 95% of the ingredients are: brown rice, black and red beans, fresh avocado, salsa, olives (none for me), cheddar, cilantro, sour cream (I add this, but I don't think it's part of the original recipe) and Tali Sauce.  You've probably never heard of Tali Sauce.  That's because it's a completely inexplicable and highly addictive substance with a top secret recipe that's impossible to find, even on the interwebs (at least until recently).  This is quite a long post about something as mundane as rice and beans, but the exciting news is, I combined a few recipes I found and was able to create something pretty close to Tali Sauce.  After Spencer returned from one of his business trips earlier this year I surprised him with a bowl.

And just in case I forget (or if you want to try it yourself) here's the Tali Sauce recipe:

1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C cashews
Juice from 1.5 large lemons
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp (heaping) whole grain mustard
1/2 C garbonzo beans
1/4 C (heaping) nutritional yeast (the kind in flakes - found at health food stores)
1/4 C water
1/4 tsp turmeric1/2 tsp curry powder

1 sprinkle of dried basil

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper1 pinch of salt

Blend everything in a food processor until super smooth. Store in the fridge!