This gluten-free salad uses roasted butternut, harissa chickpeas, cucumber, herbs, vegan feta, toasted pecans, and tahini yogurt dressing. It works as lunch for two to three people, or as a smaller side dish for four.
Ingredients
Salad
- ½ butternut squash or 3 medium sweet potatoes peeled and cut into small bite-sized pieces
- 2 tsp za’atar
- 1 red onion finely sliced
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 1 x 400g/14 oz tins chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 2 tsp rose harissa
- ½ cucumber halved lengthways, deseeded, then cut into chunks
- 20 g/0.7 oz flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
- 15 g/0.5 oz mint leaves roughly chopped
- 15 g/0.5 oz fresh dill roughly chopped
- 100 g/3.5 oz vegan feta cut or torn into bite-sized chunks
- 80 g/3 oz pecans hazelnuts, pistachios or pine nuts, toasted or roasted and roughly chopped
Dressing
- 8 tbsp vegan Greek yoghurt eg Alpro or Oatly or unsweetened plain vegan yoghurt
- 2 tbsp runny tahini
- 1-2 tbsp syrup eg maple or agave
- 1 tsp lemon juice fresh or bottled
- Pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
Salad
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
- Place the butternut squash or sweet potato on a large roasting tin and coat with a drizzle with olive oil, a sprinkling of salt and the za’atar – you might want to get your hands in there! Roast them in the oven for 25 minutes.
- Place the red onion in a large(ish) tupperwear container and spread evenly in a single or double layer. Coat in the lemon juice and a light sprinkling of salt then set aside for 30 minutes.
- Place the chickpeas in a bowl and coat them in the rose harissa. When you take the butternut or sweet potato out of the oven after 25 minutes, add the harissa chickpeas and cook for a further 10-15 minutes.
- Using a large bowl, gently combine the roasted butternut squash/sweet potato, chickpeas, cucumber and herbs. Arrange on plate(s) then scatter over the red onions, roasted nuts, vegan feta and any additional herbs for decoration.
Dressing
- Stir all the ingredients together until thoroughly combined and smooth.
- Evenly distribute over the top of the salad(s).