Turmeric Roasted Eggplant & Chickpea Salad

with a rainbow of colorful veggies, feta cheese, toasted pine nuts (pinons) & a cucumber tahini yogurt dressing. It’s like hummus, deconstructed, in salad form, with extra color, feta and a little crunch.

Mom and Dad gave me a big beautiful eggplant from their garden the last time I saw them and despite all the other garden goodies they gave me, I was determined not to let this precious eggplant go to waste! I debated whether to grill it and puree it and make it into Baba Ghanoush … or maybe put it in a curry … or eggplant parmesan? Moussaka? So many delicious options … what shall I do with this beautiful fruit?

Something inside of me whispered “salad” … and something else inside was calling “turmeric” … and so I brushed my eggplant with some avocado oil and turmeric and roasted it … and rustled around in the fridge and what was left of my veggie box to find a whole rainbow of salad things. And thus was born my turmeric roasted eggplant & chickpea salad.

You can mix up the salad ingredients if you like … replace the “extras” with whatever veggies you have on hand or what pleases you.  Play with it and create your own salad rainbow.

Turmeric Roasted Eggplant & Chickpea Salad

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: enough eggplant for 3 - 4 meal-sized salads

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the Cucumber Tahini Yogurt Dressing:

• 2/3 cup nonfat plain yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 1 Tablespoon light mayonnaise
• 1 – 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• A sprig of fresh mint leaves
• A sprig of fresh dillweed

For the turmeric roasted eggplant:

• 1 large eggplant, peeled & cut in 1/2-inch slices
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon tomato juice
• 1/4 teaspoon EACH: turmeric, garlic powder, cumin

For the salad:

• Fresh spinach leaves
• Cooked chickpeas
• Fresh mushrooms, sliced
• Fresh garden tomato, cut into chunks
• Roasted yellow summer squash
• Fresh cucumber, sliced and cut into pieces
• Thin-sliced red cabbage
• Thin-sliced red onion
• Feta cheese crumbles
• Pine nuts (pinons), toasted … or roasted sunflower seeds

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Instructions

1. Put the dressing ingredients in a mini food processor and process until smooth. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, tomato juice and spices. Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with this mixture and set the eggplant on the prepared tray. Bake at 400 for 15 – 20 minutes or until the eggplant is tender. Remove from oven and let cool. Chop into chunks.
3. To make the salads: make a bed of spinach in your salad bowl (or plate), Arrange the rest of the ingredients on the spinach around the bowl and sprinkle with pine nuts. Drizzle with the dressing and enjoy!

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Notes

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

© Copyright 2016, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

This recipe was shared at Foodie Friends Friday.