This salad has it all! Delicious roasted vegetables, nutty brown rice and chickpeas tied together with our favourite creamy tahini, and mustard dressing, finished off with some creamy feta and tangy pickled onions.
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 cup brown rice
- 400g chickpeas, 1 tin (rinsed and drained)
- ¼ crown pumpkin (cut into bite-sized cubes)
- 3 carrots (sliced into rounds)
- 2 red onions (sliced into wedges)
- ½ cup parsley (finely chopped)
- ½ cup coriander (finely chopped)
- ⅓ cup roasted almonds (roughly chopped)
- 75g feta (crumbled)
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Pickled onions
- 1 red onion (finely sliced)
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 2 tsp coconut sugar/brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
Dressing
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 lemon (juice and zest)
- 2 Tbsp tahini
- 2 tsp honey or maple syrup
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
- Pinch of salt and pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, fan bake.
- Start off by making the pickled onions, add the sliced red onion to a glass jar.
- In a small saucepan add the water, vinegar, sugar and salt.
- Bring to the boil and then remove from the heat. Pour the boiling vinegar mixture over the onions and let sit for at least an hour before putting the lid on and placing it in the fridge.
- Spread the carrots, red onion and pumpkin across a couple of baking trays. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Pop in the oven to roast for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and starting to crisp up in places.
- Cook the rice as per packet instructions (we like to use the absorption method).
- To make the dressing, simply add all of the ingredients to a glass jar and shake well to combine.
- Once the rice has cooked, spread out over a plate or tray to allow to cool down quickly, this also stops it from going gluggy and sticking together.
- Once the rice has cooled slightly, add it to a large salad bowl or platter and add the chickpeas, herbs, almonds and the dressing. Toss well to make sure everything is coated in the dressing.
- Add the roasted vegetables and gently toss through the salad. Top with some feta and pickled onions.
Variations
Vegetables
- This salad works well with almost any roasted vegetables you can use beetroot, parsnips, sweet potatoes or even cauliflower.
Other
- You can swap out the tahini for a smooth almond butter in the dressing.
- Swap out the brown rice for black rice or quinoa.
