Warm Roasted Pumpkin Platter with Brown Rice and Tahini Yogurt
Serves: 2
Time: 45 minutes
You all know I love a plant based dinner. Visually I find some of my plant based meals to be the most beautiful. I also just like to eat a lot more veg than meat these days as I feel lighter and less sluggish when I do. Tonight’s dinner looks beautiful on a large platter and if you like to eat with your hands then you can use a small spoon to pile components on top of the pumpkin wedges and eat like finger food (my favourite way to eat). If you would prefer to serve as individual portions then please cut your roasties into smaller bite sized pieces.
Leftovers
This salad is a perfect leftover lunch if you want to add enough ingredients to bulk it up you will find them in the Xtra for Lunch shopping list. You will also want to increase the amount of rice by 1/4 cup.
Leftover Persian Feta?
If you didn't use up all your feta last week, it would be scrumptious on this salad.
What you'll need
1 small butternut pumpkin
2 medium sweet potatoes
3 large carrots
2 red onions
1/4 cup of walnuts
1/2 cup of brown rice
1/4 cup currants
1/2 cup of pot of greek yoghurt
1/4 bunch of mint
1/4 bunch of coriander
1 small lemon
From the Pantry
1 tablespoon tahini
olive oil
salt and pepper
Feeding Four?
The dinner for four shopping list has extra veg and baby rocket
Prep and Cook
Preheat Oven to 1eighty
Cook Rice
Place the rice in a medium sized pot with around 6 cups of water and a good pinch of salt.
Bring up to a boil then continue to cook for 30-40 mins until the rice is soft to the bite or al dente.
Drain once cooked.
Roast Veg
Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds. Chop up into large wedges.
Peel the sweet potato and chop into large wedges just a touch smaller than the pumpkin.
Leave the carrots whole with their skins on and cut into 3 pieces on an angle.
Peel the onions and slice in half then each half into 4 wedges.
Combine all the veg in a mixing bowl and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. (any old hard herbs in the fridge would be good to use up here)
Spread out on a roasting tray lined with baking paper and pop into the oven to cook for 40 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft through (carrots are nice with a bit of crunch).
Old Hard Herbs
If you have any old hard herbs lying around (which I often do) then roasted veg are perfect to use them up on. Roughly chop and toss through before you cook them.
Wash Herbs
My go to method for washing soft herbs is to plunge them into a bowl of cold water, stalks and all, and give them a really good shake. I’ll often leave them sitting for a few minutes while I do something else, then remove them from the water and take them outside and flick really well like you’re cracking a whip.
Pick the leaves and tips of coriander, and pick the mint leaves, ripping up any really large leaves as you go.
Toast Walnuts
Pop your walnuts on a small tray and pop in the oven for 7 minutes till lightly golden.
Mix Yogurt Dressing
Where Do You Store Tahini?
I go through a jar of tahini pretty quickly because I use it on all sorts of things, so I store my tahini in the cupboard; this way it is still lovely and runny and soft to mix through dressings easily.
Mix yoghurt and tahini with the juice of a lemon and season really well with salt and pepper.
Plate it Pretty
Scatter half of your roasted veg around your platter, sprinkle over half of the rice and a few toasted walnuts.
Use a spoon to drizzle some yogurt dressing around then repeat with the other half of your rice and veg.
Sprinkle over the top with the currants and rest of the toasted walnuts, drizzle over the remainder of your yogurt and scatter the fresh herbs over the top.
Enjoy!
Lunch tomorrow
I haven’t allowed for lunch leftovers tonight, perhaps some leftovers like a ham salad sandwich or tuna salad click here for ingredients.