Nurturing Autumn Salad Bowl

Makes: 4

Ingredients:

To prepare the roasted vegetables:

• 1 large to medium-sized sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 large or medium sized heads of broccoli, cut into florets
• 3 TBSP of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp of ground turmeric
• 1 tsp of ground cumin
• Freshly ground black pepper and a little herbal sea salt to taste

To prepare the salad:

• ½ cup of brown or green lentils, soaked and rinsed
• 1-2 large bunches of kale
• 1-2 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 cup of parsley
• ¼ cup of walnuts
• ¼ cup of pepita seeds

Dressing:

• 1-2 TBSP of lemon juice
• 4 TBSP of cold-pressed olive oil
• 3 TBSP of apple cider vinegar
• 1 garlic, crushed
• 1 TBSP of grated ginger
• Optional: 1 tsp of rice malt syrup
• Good quality salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees, fan-forced and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Rinse and drain your lentils and cook in vegetable broth or good quality salt until tender (about 30 – 40 minutes).
3. In a little bowl, mix together your olive oil and spices and toss your sweet potatoes in your olive oil mixture before spreading them onto one of the trays.
4. Repeat with your broccoli florets, ensuring they are not completely soaked but rather slightly coated and season with black pepper and a little salt if you wish. Set the baking sheet with broccoli aside.
5. Drizzle any leftover oil mixture onto the sweet potato cubes, season with black pepper and a little salt if you wish and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.
6. After 10 minutes, start roasting your broccoli florets for another 15 -20 minutes. (Total roasting time of vegetables should be between 25 – 30 minutes, depending on your oven. Vegetables are done when broccoli florets are crispy and sweet potato cubes soft and tender.
7. In the meantime, wash your kale, trim of the branches and rip or cut into bite sized pieces.
8. In a little bowl, mix together the dressing.
9. Use half of the dressing to massage the into the kale.
10. Assemble your salad by adding cooked lentils, roasted sweet potatoes, and broccoli florets to your bed of massaged kale. Sprinkle with spring onions and parley.
11. Drizzle with the remaining sauce and top with walnuts and pepita seeds.

Enjoy!