Chickpea Spelt Salad with Roasted Vegetables

This salad is very nutricious and is practically a meal by itself: spelt and chickpeas make it filling and especially tasty! It goes so well with the lemon sesame dressing. Spelt is so yummy: the grains taste nutty and are chewy and they stay quite a long al dente and separate, so they are especially good for salads.

It's the time of the year I'm feeling tired - the spring fatigue. It feels so annoying - all the increasing light (more hours to shoot my cookings!) and the thought that the energy levels should increase as well. I've had this post three weeks just waiting for me to hit the publish button, but I didn't have enough energy to tell you the news. Now I'm not anymore spring tired, but as Foxtail is not anymore in my kitchen, nor anywhere else in this world, and as he was always very much involved while I was cooking, the time didn't feel right to publish this. I'm not yet sure if I should start a new blog, but until Ill decide on that I will continue blogging here. I'm still sad and miss Foxtail very much, but he's in a better place now TTT___TTT

Chickpea Spelt Salad with Roasted Vegetables

Serves 2

100 ml spelt grains
1 Tbsp extra-virgin canola oil
2-3 carrots
appr. 10 Brussels sprouts
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (about 230 g)

100 g kale (4-5 leaves)
a sprinkle of salt
a dash of vinegar and extra-virgin canola oil

Cook the spelt in abundant water according to the package's instructions (or a little less. I cooked mine 15 minutes but it really depends on the type of grain). Drain the extra water away and add 1 Tbsp extra-virgin canola oil and a sprinkle of salt to flavour the grains.

Peel the carrots and cut them into sticks. Trim the sprouts and cut them in half. Arrange the carrots on a roasting tray, pour on some vegetable oil and coat them in oil. Sprinkle on some salt. Roast in 225 C for about 15 minutes and then add the sprouts. Continue for another 15 minutes or until the vegetables start to brown around the edges.

Wash the kale leaves and tear to bite-size pieces (remove the stems). Rub them properly with salt, vinegar and oil until wilted and soft. Arrange everything on individual plates: kale and spelt, chickpeas and roasted vegetables. Season with lemon sesame dressing.

Lemon sesame dressing:

3 Tbsp sesame seeds (or 1Tbsp tahini)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar or maple syrup
3+ Tbsp water

(Optional: toast the sesame seeds.) Blend the sesame seeds into fine flour and add the rest of the ingredients. (If your blender/etc doesn't handle well dry seeds, try adding a bit of liquid and trying again and then add the rest of the ingredients. I'm using my hand blender's processor accessory that can be used to mince herbs but also hard ingredients). Blend together. Add more water if needed.

Kikherne-spelttisalaatti

2:lle

1 dl spelttihelmiä
1 rkl kylmäpuristettua rypsiöljyä
2-3 porkkanaa
~10 ruusukaalia
1 tlk kikherneitä, huuhdottuna ja valutettuna (n. 230 g)

100 g lehtikaalia (4-5 isoa lehteä)
suolaa
viinietikkaa ja kylmäpuristettua rypsiöljyä

Keitä speltti reilussa vedessä pakkauksen ohjeen mukaan (tai hieman lyhyemmän aikaa. Itse keitin 15 min, mutta aika riippuu spelteistäsi). Valuta ylimääräinen vesi pois ja lisää 1 rkl kylmäpuristettua rypsiöljyä ja ripaus suolaa.

Kuori porkkanat ja leikkaa ne tikuiksi. Laita ne uunipellille ja pyörittele tavallisessa rypsiöljyssä. mausta ripauksella suolaa. Paahda 225-asteisessa uunissa n. 15 min. Sillä välin perkaa ruusukaalit ja halkaise ne. Lisää ne porkkanoiden joukkoon ja jatka paahtamista toiset 15 min tai kunnes kasvikset alkavat ottaa väriä.

Pese lehtikaali, poista kovat lehtiruodit ja revi sopiviksi paloiksi. Hiero niihin suolaa, etikkaa ja öljyä, kunnes lehdet pehmenevät. Järjestä ainekset lautasille ja mausta kastikkeella.

Sitruuna-seesamikastike
3 rkl seesaminsiemenia (tai 1 rkl tahinia)
1 rkl sitruunamehua
1 rkl paahdettua seesamiöljyä
1/4 tl suolaa
1/2 tl sokeria tai vaahterasiirappia
3+ rkl vettä

(Voit halutessasi paahtaa seesamisiemenet.) Silppuroi seesaminsiemenet hienoksi esim. tehosekoittimessa tai vastaavassa. Lisää loput ainekset ja aja tasaiseksi. (Jos laitteesi ei saa siemeniä jauhetuksi kuiviltaan, lisää osa nesteistä ja yritä uudestaan. Itse käytän siementen jauhamiseen Bamixin yrttisilppuri-lisäosaa, jolla voi jauhaa myös kovia aineksia.) Lisää enemmän vettä tarvittaessa.

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