Mediterranean pumpkin and chickpea salad

While sorting through some old papers recently, I found a recipe I had torn out of a supermarket magazine for Middle Eastern Pumpkin and Chickpea Salad.  So many salads in magazine are a work of art these days and appear as a tantalising impossibility.  Unusually, this appealed because I thought I could just about rustle up the ingredients. 

In particular this salad inspired me to use a wedge of pumpkin that I had bought from the farmers market. I don't have a BBQ so I roasted slices.  Instead of the spices I used dukkah.  I really loved the look of the seeds on the pumpkin.  After all this salad was very much about style. 

Another change I made was to add purple cabbage.  The recipe included red onion.  This is not something I often have.  But I remembered roasting cabbage years ago.  It was a little crispy around the edges and softened on the insides.

Finally I didn't have yoghurt but I had tzatziki.  We have been loving tzatziki with everything lately so I dabbed it over the salad instead of yoghurt.  The final salad was lovely and fresh.  I cooked a little pasta to have with it.  I suspect it would be fine on its own.  I can tell you that it is a very forgiving recipe that stands up to many changes.  This is the sort of salad that is always welcome in my kitchen.

I am sending this salad to VegHog and Shaheen for Eat Your Greens and to Deb for Souper Sundays.

More vegie packed salads on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Chickpea, peach and pumpkin curry (gf, v) 
Hurry up pumpkin alfredo (v)
Japanese-style pumpkin, sprouts and tofu soup (gf, v)
Miso harissa roast pumpkin (gf, v)
Roasted cauliflower and pumpkin salad (gf)
Roasted pumpkin and garlic hummus (gf, v)
Tempeh and pumpkin lasagne (v) 
Thai pumpkin, corn and chickpea stew (gf, v)

Mediterranean pumpkin and chickpea salad
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe.
Serves 2 - 4

350g Kent pumpkin, sliced 1cm thick and halved
1 red capsicum, chopped
2 cups purple cabbage, sliced 2cm thick and halved
2-4 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp dukkah
2 good handfuls of baby spinach

Preheat oven to 220 C.  Drizzle olive oil into the base of 2 roasting dishes.  Dip pieces of pumpkin, capsicum and cabbage in oil, turn over and arrange in dishes. Scatter dukkah over the vegetables.  30-40 min chopped into 1cm slices and halved.  After 20 minutes check capsicum and cabbage and remove from dish.  Continue to roast pumpkin another 10-20 minutes until slightly charred around edges.

When vegetables are cooked, cool slightly (or to room temperature).  Line base of shallow dish (or individual dishes) with spinach leaves (keep some aside to scatter on top).  Arrange roasted vegetables on the spinach, then add additional spinach leaves, chickpeas and spoonfuls of tzatziki.  Squeeze lemon over the salad.

NOTES:
This salad is open to lots of variations.  Your favourite spice mix can be used instead of dukkah or use a combination of cumin, coriander and smoked paprika.  Other vegetables could be used such as sweet potato, rocket, asparagus, eggplant or cauliflower.  If you don't have tzatziki, use sour cream or yoghurt.  If you want it vegan, use other dips such as hummus instead of tzatziki.  

I served half the salad one night and kept the vegies, chickpeas and spinach separate for the next night.  Then I wanted a salad sandwich so I mashed chickpeas with tzatziki and put them in a sandwich with roasted pumpkin and spinach.  The red capsicum was on the side.

On the stereo:
Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay