A hearty and healthy salad is the perfect Sunday lunch or accompaniment, particularly on a sunny day. When I developed this recipe, it was for a an Easter lunch that we also happened to make Gluten Free for one of my best friends. The result, was an absolutely delicious combination of beautiful Middle Eastern flavours and really fresh ingredients that is completely customisable and incredibly versatile.
How to make the BEST Dressing?
What transforms this salad from something okay to amazing is the beautiful dressing that coats the salad. All you need to do is mix together some super ripe and juicy tomato with a bit of brown sugar, a pinch of salt, lime juice, some chilli flakes and some garlic. The brown sugar adds a beautiful molasses laden rich sweetness to the tart tomato and the result is so delicious. The best way to prepare this is to let the tomatoes, salt, sugar and lime juice macerate a little bit. To combine everything together, simply pulse together in a blender or use a fork to mash everything well till you get a coarse mixture. I love keeping the dressing a little bit chunky!
The base
This salad is made with loads of vegetables to accompany the two base ingredients – parsley and chickpeas. I don’t think you can make a Middle Eastern style salad without these two ingredients. I use tinned chickpeas, and the best way to prepare them is to wash them thoroughly until all the foam is rinsed away. Believe it or not, this will reduce the amount of bloating as a result of the chickpeas. Another tip is to let the chickpeas soak for 10 minutes in cold water and drain thoroughly before using them in a salad.
The other component to the salad is essentially a lot of nicely roasted vegetables. I find that a combination of roasted carrots and pumpkin create the perfect base for this recipe. For this recipe I also use onions, but you can absolutely roast some capsicums/sweet peppers, beetroot and even potatoes. Roast these with some salt, pepper, sumac and fresh thyme – the result will be a truly delicious smelling kitchen.
For the eggplant/aubergine and zucchini, I like grilling these on a griddle pan to get those beautiful lines of charred goodness not to mention the process is a lot quicker. All you need to do is slice the zucchini into thin disks and the eggplant into thin quartered slices and grill these with a light brushing of olive oil. Simply cook these until they start to brown and are soft to break apart.
Add the warm grilled vegetables right into the salad try/bowl – the heat will help soften down the sharp parsley!
With all the vegetables in the tray, now we add in the washed chickpeas, crumbled feta, and chopped almonds (use slivered almonds if you want or even pine nuts!). All that needs to be done now is drizzle over the remaining dressing and toss everything together until you can see all the various ingredients all together. That is all! So simple, and so incredibly delicious.
Here is the recipe to this absolutely delicious salad. The dressing is what absolutely transforms it and trust me when I say that it’s become a staple for our salads at home.
Chickpea & Roaster Vegetable Salad
Ingredients
- 1 bunch parsley
- 400 g tinned chickpeas
- 1/4 butternut squash
- 4 carrots cut into sticks
- 3 zucchinis sliced thin
- 1/2 large eggplant sliced think
- 1 red onion sliced finely
- 1/2 block feta cheese
- 1 tomato
- Juice 1 lime
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1/4 chilli flakes
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp chopped almonds
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1/4 tsp ground sumac
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and prepare two baking trays lined with aluminium foil
- Arrange the pumpkin and carrots on one tray, and the sliced onions on the other. Create a small bowl using aluminium foil such that the edges can be pressed together to make a pocket and add 1/2 tsp of olive oil and the clove of garlic to this and place the pocket on the tray with onions
- Place both trays in the oven arranging the tray with the pumpkin and carrots over the tray with the onion and garlic. Roast the vegetables for roughly 20 minutes, checking the caramelisation. The garlic will take about 15 minutes so remove this first and let the pocket cool completely before handling the garlic
- In a small blender or nutri-bullet combine the tomato (chopped roughly), lime juice, sugar, salt and chilli flakes and set this aside – do not pulse or mix!
- After the garlic has roasted and cooled, remove the skin off the garlic and add this to the tomato mixture
- Gently pulse the tomato mixture together until you get a coarse dressing
- Pour 3/4 of the dressing into the serving tray or salad bowl and reserve the remaining
- Add the chopped parsley to the bowl or tray but do not mix. Let the parsley softed down with the juices from the dressing
- Heat up a griddle pan and brush lightly with olive oil
- Cook the eggplant and zucchini slices on the griddle pan until lightly charred. Once done, remove and add to the salad bowl or tray
- Once the pumpkin, carrots and onions have cooked, remove from the oven and keep out to cool. Once cooled, add these to the salad bowl or tray as well
- Rinse the canned chickpeas thoroughly ensuring all the foamy liquid is washed away. Drain well and add these to the salad bowl or tray
- Crumble the feta over the bowl or tray along with the almonds
- Dollop over the remaining dressing and use tongs to combine the entire salad well together
- Serve the salad fresh with some pita fresh, fattoush, and some honeyed yogurt
This has become one of our favourite salads to make for dinner or lunch parties because of how simple and absolutely delicious it is. Gluten free, tasty and super filling – you won’t need another salad at all.
