Superfood salad

This salad is a homage to the forgotten superfoods. The humble underdogs, like the sweet potato, which contains more beta carotene than a carrot, and the cauliflower, which contains plant sterols that help to lower the “bad” cholesterol naturally. These salad ingredients make this dish a late summer/early autumn specialty. Having said that, if there are different vegetables available at the time, get creative and use them! Ideas for winter substitutes include Brussels sprouts or turnips, or a summer salad could include beetroot or eggplant.

Credit: Nikki To

• serves

  4

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  50 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

Salad

• 1 tbsp cultured butter
• 2 sweet potatoes, roughly chopped
• ½ head cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 4 zucchinis, roughly sliced on the diagonal
• 3 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped into eight pieces
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground tumeric
• sea salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 tsp fresh chives, roughly chopped

Dressing

• 3 tbsp (heaped) hulled tahini
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• pinch ground cumin

Topping

• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cultured butter
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 Thai red chilli, finely chopped
• 25 curry leaves (see Note)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Melt butter by placing into the oven for approximately 5 minutes on a roasting tray.

Once butter is melted, place sweet potatoes, cauliflower, zucchinis and red onions in the roasting tray, adding ground cumin, tumeric, salt and pepper. Mix to coat vegetables well with seasonings and butter. Place in oven for approximately 45 minutes or until vegetables are just browning and soft. 

While the vegetables are in the oven, pop the rice and 2 cups of filtered water into a pot and place on high heat on the stove. Wait until water boils, then turn down to a simmer, cover and cook for 40 minutes or until all the water is absorbed, stirring every 10 minutes. When finished, fluff with a fork. 

While the rice and vegetables are cooking, prepare the dressing. Whisk all ingredients plus 3 tablespoons of water in a bowl with a fork until you get the consistency of honey. Add more tahini to thicken and more water to thin the consistency. Set aside. 

When all ingredients are ready, prepare the topping on the stove. In a pan, melt butter over high heat and add mustard seeds. Cook for 2 minutes, then add garlic, chilli and curry leaves. Stir and cook until garlic starts to brown, then remove from heat. 

To serve, mix vegetables in with rice, spoon over desired amount of tahini dressing, add topping and chopped chives to finish.

Note

• Curry leaves should be fresh, but dried leaves are a good substitute if fresh is not available.

Recipe from The Life Holistic by Jacqui Tedder, with photographs by Nikki To.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.