Ceci (spiced chickpeas) & pumpkin salad

This salad takes a little more prep, but is worth it. It’s better with the pumpkin and ceci hot, so make it at the weekend, or for dinner to go with a steak or roast chicken.

First prepare the baked pumpkin: Get a small piece of pumpkin (750g or so), peel the skin off and cut into small cubes, roughly 1.5 to 2 cm. Mix in a bowl with some melted butter or olive oil till coated, add some sea salt and paprika, and mix again. Bake at about 180C till soft, which takes 30-40 minutes.

When it’s nearly ready, prepare the ceci: Once we’ve looked at how to prepare legumes in lesson 8, you can cook up your own chickpeas. But for now, we’ll use tinned. Open a large tin chick peas. Rinse, drain well and dry off with a paper towel. You should be able to get all the skins off at the same time. Melt 2 Tbs butter or olive oil in a large frypan and add 1 Tbs olive oil, 1 tsp sea salt & 1 heaped tsp Greggs chilli seasoning (or similar mix). Mix together. Toss the chick peas in the butter mix, then heat through in the frypan for about 10 mins over a moderate heat, shaking or stirring a couple of times.

Meanwhile, prepare the salad base: Line a bowl with some mesclun salad or baby spinach tossed in dressing. Spoon a generous handful of ceci over the top. Then sprinkle on a handful of baked pumpkin (or yams or kumera would also be OK) and a Tbs of crispy almonds. Garnish with chopped pepper.