Pumpkin & Chickpea Salad with Sunflower Seed Dressing

This recipe is easy, peasy. I made it one night after work and it took all of 20 minutes tops.

You'll need for the salad:

1/4 Pumpkin, cut in to cubes
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
dash of olive oil
half a red onion
1 can of chickpeas (I use dried and leave soaking for the day)

You'll need for the dressing:

1 tbsp honey
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 sunflower seeds
2 tbsp warm water
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
dash of salt and pepper
coriander, finely chopped

Get to work:

Toss pumpkin cubes in olive oil, cumin and coriander. Roast until soft. Add the red onions about half way through. Once cooked, put pumpkin & red onon in the a serving bowl with chickpeas and finely chopped coriander. To make the dressing, simply put honey, lemon juice, water, olive oil, seeds, salt, pepper, and a large pinch of fined chopped coriander in a blender and whizz. Add more water if its not runny enough. Toss a little bit of dressing through salad with fresh coriander and serve.

** I added currants for a sweet hit. Yum!

Japanese Vegetarian Pancakes

New recipe. Totally needed to share. It was easy, delicious and above all, a little fancy!

Here's the loot you'll need, most of which you'll already have in the cupboard.

Pancakes
3 carrots, shredded with veggie peeler
Half a small cabbage, shredded
3 spring onions, sliced thinly on an angle people
5 kale leaves, stalks removed.
1/2 cup flour
6-7 eggs.
Toasted sesame seeds & spring onion shreds for sprinkling
Japanese mayo - coles has it (and it's worth the $3.50)

Sauce
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 tsp rice wine or sake
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp ground ginger (I used 1 crushed garlic clove instead)


To make the pancakes
Mix all your veg in a bowl and toss through the flour to coat. Add 6 - 7 eggs so that all veg is covered with egg.

Heat canola oil in a pan. Add heaped spoonfuls (i used tongs) to make big pancakes. Press them lightly with the spatula. Fry until they are solid and crisp underneath. I used the 'two-plate' method to flip. Use spatula to remove from pan, place on plate, cover with another plate, flip both over at the same time and then put the pancake back on the pan to cook the uncooked side. Make sense? They can be put into an oven on low heat to remain warm.

To make the sauce
Mix all those ingredients together in a pot, heat for 3-5 minutes and leave to cool. Frickin' awesome!