Life Diet Health

Winter Chickpea Salad

Laurena@LifeDietHealth

Winter Chickpea Salad

Chickpeas! Do you eat them? Do you love them? They are almost a staple in our house! My husband buys them by the case (12 tins) or two or three!!! We have dried chickpeas too but it’s so easy to just open a tin and eat them straight out of the… pop them in a pan with some spice. 🙂 Sometimes, we eat chickpeas for breakfast! That’s hubbies recipe from home and he scoops them up with flat bread while I just eat them with a spoon! 😛 To us, chickpeas are a kind of cheating meal as they’re so easy! If I have someone unexpectedly for lunch, I might make something like chickpeas with chard or spinach, or these quick tomato based chickpeas. Of course we also use chickpeas to make houmous and falafel (hubby made falafel last night)! 😀

If you’ve been following my blog for a while (or if you’re friends or family), you might know that although I follow a plant based diet, my boys can’t go without meat! That means that cooking dinner is always a busy affair with pots and pans everywhere cooking something to please everyone! However!!! 😛 One of my good friends @mamalogical decided to do Veganuary this year with her husband! Our hubbies are friends and my hubby was horrified at the thought of no meat! I mean, what would he eat?!?!? 😛 You know, this is now the start of my fourth year (since January 2015) following a plant based diet and obviously I’ve eaten nothing since then! 😛 😛 😛 Of course, I don’t have a blog full of recipes including cake and biscuits so he would obviously die if he was one of the 100,000 plus taking part in Veganuary like his friend! For those of you who have been doing Veganuary, I hope it went well and I hope you will continue to eat a bit less meat than before!? 😀

There’s a LOT to eat on a plant based diet (vegan or vegetarian) and… I’m so so so happy that although hubby didn’t choose to do Veganuary, the only time he’s had meat so far this year was when his family came for lunch!!! Seriously! 😀 (If any of you are reading this, then do you remember your promise 😛 if he is vegetarian you’ll all be vegan 😛 )! 😀 Yes, he’s had eggs and cheese and yogurt (although he’s taken a liking to my coconut yogurt) but he didn’t even have meat when we went to a burger restaurant! 😀 You can’t imagine how much I’m grinning writing this! 😛 Better still, although I don’t think he’s realised yet, he’s spent less time feeling tired, lethargic and headachy woohoo! 🙂

Back to the recipe? 🙂

Anyway, you can’t possibly imagine how nice it is after all these years to finally all be eating the same food all most of the time (I’m not eating his traditional Shalgham a.k.a. turnip soaked in molasses)! This recipe is very simple and was actually sent in a delivered (UK) recipe box from Mindful Chef we thought we’d try out. The concept is great, you pick which meals you want to eat (2-4 per week) and for how many people and they deliver it, all portioned out with instructions (they have meat & fish options too). What’s extra special about this particular company is that for every meal purchased, they donate a school lunch to a child living in poverty through their partner charity One Feeds Two! 😀 😀 😀 We’re on week three now and we’ve enjoyed everything so far and tried not to tweak too much! They are a relatively new company and still have things to learn, but for quick (most meals take 30 minutes or less), faff free, tasty meals for when you’re short of time, I would recommend it! (If you’re in the UK and want to try it, email me as I have a code for £20 off)! 😀

Oh yes, and hubby is eating all these meals and enjoying them!!! 😀 😀 😀 He’s even taken a liking to tofu and jackfruit!!! Woohoo!

I’m taking this colourful flavoursome dish over to Angie’s Fiesta Friday this week where I’m co-hosting along with the talented Monika @ Everyday Healthy Recipes . Why don’t you come over and join us, have a hop around, grab some new ideas and meet new friends (& say hello to old ones)! Better still… share your latest creations with us by linking up to all three of us (my link is Laurena@LifeDietHealth) for a chance to be featured next week. 😀 It’s the best weekend blog party on here  and it goes on until Tuesday! See you there! 😀 😀 😀

Winter Chickpea Salad (Vegan & Free-From)

  • Servings: 1-2
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print page

Gather

  • 1 medium butternut squash
  • oil of choice (I used olive oil)
  • salt to taste
  • 1 x 400g tin chickpeas drained
  • 1 tablespoon za’atar
  • bunch of purple sprouting broccoli
  • 1 tablespoon tahini
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 1/2 lemon juice
  • 1-2 tablespoons pistachios
  • 1 pomegranate peeled and separated
  • small handful fresh mint leaves roughly torn

Prepare

  1. Wash the squash, cut into quarters then cut into slices just under 1cm thick. Put on a baking tray, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and bake at Gas mark 6 (400f / 200c) for 25 minutes, turning over halfway.
  2. Pour the chickpeas onto another baking tray, add a splash of oil, season with salt and add the za’atar. Gently mix together and push to one side of the tray.
  3. Trim the broccoli and place next to the chickpeas, add a teaspoon of oil and massage in, then season with salt. Bake for 15 minutes (under the squash).
  4. Mix the tahini with the maple syrup and lemon juice, add a splash of water if it’s too thick. you should have a drizzling consistency.
  5. Dry fry the pistachios for about thirty seconds, then roughly chop.
  6. Place the squash on a plate, add chickpeas and broccoli, drizzle with the sauce, scatter over a handful of pomegranate seeds and a sprinkling of pistachios. Finish with the mint leaves.
  7. Enjoy!

Tips & Storage

  • If pomegranate isn’t your thing, just leave it off and eat it for dessert!
  • You can add the pistachios without cooking but they’re tastier warmed.
  • Try with pine nuts or hazelnuts instead.
  • If you don’t have za’atar use a teaspoon of sesame seeds, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon sumac (if you have it).
  • Use regular broccoli and slice the florets in half if you don’t have any sprouting.
  • This can be stored in the fridge for a day but I’d try and eat it all fresh!

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