Apple Barley Salad with Baked Sweet Potato (topped with Hummus and Roasted Chickpeas)

Tonight’s supper really revolves around tahini and chickpeas.  The recipes came to me mostly because I knew I had ingredients that I needed to use up.   I tried to use a mix of flavours in this meal, balancing sweet and salty with earthy and bitter flavours.  Overall, I think that we ended up with a filling and varied meal.

Serves: 2

Cook time: 75 mins (+8 hrs to soak dry chickpeas)

Ingredients

• 1 medium/large sweet potatoe

Roasted Chickpeas:

• 1.5 cup cooked chickpeas
• 2 tbsp grape seed oil
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 tsp dill
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Simple Hummus recipe:

• 1.5 cup cooked chickpeas
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp roasted sesame oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice – or juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley (optional)
• 2 tbsp water

Salad: 

• Baby greens
• 1/2 cup cooked pot barley
• 1/2 Macintosh apple chopped into small pieces
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (or any type of nuts/seeds that you prefer)
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley

Dressing:

• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp roasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp water
• 1/2 tsp maple syrup
• Salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Directions

Baked Sweet Potato with Roasted Chickpeas and Homemade Hummus:

*Soak 1.5 cup of dried chickpeas overnight or for 8 hrs prior (if you forget to soak the chickpeas, don’t worry, they’ll just need extra cooking time)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees celcius
2. Cook one large sweet potato in the oven for roughly 60-75 minutes or until soft.
3. Cook the chickpeas for roughly 30 minutes or until tender.

Roasted Chickpeas:

1. In a small bowl, mix half of the cooked chickpeas with oil and spices.
2. Spread chickpeas evenly onto a baking pan and bake for 30 minutes – flip them halfway through.
3. When they are done baking, leave them on the baking sheet to cool for 5 – 10 mins.  Then place in a small mixing bowl until you are ready for assembly.

Simple Hummus:

In a high speed blender, add all of the ingredients and blend on medium speed.  If mixture isn’t blending well, you can add a little more water, 1 tsp at a time.  Try blending in 15 – 20 second spurts, stopping to stir the mixture to ensure that the blades are not getting stuck.

Salad Dressing:

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and mix together with a small whisk until it is smooth.

Assembly:

1. When the sweet potato is fully cooked through, cut it in half.  Take one half and mash the potato slightly with a fork.
2.  Add a few dollops of hummus and top with a handful of the roasted chickpeas.
3. In a large salad bowl combine salad greens, cooked pot barley, apple, pumpkin seeds, and parsley and drizzle dressing over top.