This is my absolute favourite salad of all time. I eat it so often, I have no idea how I am not sick of it yet. Its so so good – please give it a go!
Its special because I do something a little different to the sweet potatoes. I roast them with cinnamon! This gives the salad a sweet twist without being too much because it’s balanced by the lemon and tahini dressing, parsley, lentils and red onion which cut through the sweetness.
Lets talk about salads for a second. Salads are so great because you can mix and change them up depending on what you have in the fridge or pantry. They are also a sure way to get a variety of veggies, legumes and seeds into your diet and fulfil your diversity quota.
Diversity quota? If you haven’t heard of this before, you are not alone. Basically research tells us that we cant just eat bowls of broccoli day and night and maintain optimal health. Our bodies need all kinds of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that must come from a range of sources. Broccoli, as good as it is, doesn’t contain everything the body needs!
A real inspiration of mine right now is Registered Dietitian, Dr Megan Rossi. Megan has led new research in gut health and recommends including around 30 different plant-based food sources in your diet every week. This is because each vegetable, legume, grain or nut contains different nutrients or vitamins the body needs and increasing the diversity will help to ensure you aren’t missing out on the essentials.
This salad recipe gives you nine sources in just one meal! So you are already on your way to a healthier, happier gut and are helping to reduce your risk of non communicable diseases.
Ingredients
1 very large sweet potato
1 tbsp of cinnamon sugar
1/2 tbsp of olive oil
4 cups of baby spinach
1/2 red onion
400g of lentils, canned and drained
150g or 1 cup of pumpkin seeds
1 punch of fresh parsley
150g or 1 cup of sultanas
Dressing
2 tbsp of hulled tahini
1/2 tbsp of rice malt syrup
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp warm water
Method
To begin, preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
Peel and chop the sweet potato into medium chunks. Place the chopped sweet potato on a baking tray, sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle over the olive oil. Massage the sweet potatoes on the tray until lathered in cinnamon and oil. Place in the oven and bake for 40 Minutes. At the 40 minute mark, I like to change the oven setting to grill and grill them for 3-4 minutes so they turn golden and crispy.
While your sweet potatoes are cooking, finely dice the red onion and add it to a large salad bowl.
Next, roughly chop the parsley and add it to salad bowl.
Add the baby spinach, 3/4 of the raw pumpkin seeds, sultanas, lentils and
cooked sweet potatoes to the salad bowl and toss together.
To make the dressing, place all ingredients into a high speed food processor and blend until a thick mixture forms. Add an extra table spoon of warm water if the mixture appears too think to pour.
Serve a portion of the salad into a serving bowl, drizzle over tahini dressing and sprinkle the remaining pumpkin seeds over the top.
Enjoy!
