It’s just a simple salad I put together in minutes (barring the 40 mins it took to roast the pumpkin in the oven). Pumpkin has never been a contender of favourite vegetable for me. I grew up picking the pieces out of sambar and curries while pulling my face. It still isn’t a favourite, but I learned how it can taste pretty good with other vegetables or in a luscious soup.
So, I put around 1/2 kilo of yellow pumpkin in the oven to slowly roast with a little chilli oil and salt. Most recipes say it takes 25 mins at 180 degrees for the pumpkin to turn soft, but it has always taken me 35-40 mins. They were cut into cubes too. After keeping most of it aside to make hummus the next day, I used some of the pumpkin in a salad with cucumber, lettuce and basil. The dressing for this was a lemon harissa one. My homemade harissa came to rescue here.
Yield:
1 serving
Prep time:
5 mins to assemble
Cooking time:
40 mins
Ingredients:
Yellow pumpkin – 500 gm cut into cubes without the skin
Chilli oil (or olive oil) – 2 tsp
Cucumber – 1/2 small one cut in chunks
Broccoli – 1/2 cup cooked florets
Lettuce and basil – handful roughly torn
Lemon juice – from 1/2 a lemon
Harissa paste – 1 tbsp
Honey or maple syrup – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Method:
Roast the pumpkin cubes in your preheated oven at 180 degrees till they’re soft. It should take 35-40 mins if you’re using a small OTG. Alternately, you could cook them on a pan too.
Arrange the salad greens, cucumber and broccoli in your bowl or plate.
Mix the harissa, lemon juice, maple syrup or honey and salt in a small bowl.
Place the roasted pumpkin cubes on the salad and drizzle with the dressing.
Note:
You could roast the pumpkin the previous night and pop it in the fridge to use it the day after. It’ll save you a lot of time.
