These ingredients combine to make this salad a real feast for your senses. There’s colour, crunch, fragrance and a delicious mix of savoury, nutty, tangy and slightly sweet flavours. Best of all, it’s packed with colourful plant foods, healthy fats, fibre and plenty of variety for a delicious, brain-friendly meal.
Time: Prep – 15 mins, Cooking – 30 mins
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
For the salad:
- 1 large cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 generous handfuls baby spinach or rocket
- ½ cup pomegranate seeds
- ½ cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
- ½ cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- ⅓ cup pistachios or walnuts, roughly chopped
For the lemon tahini dressing:
- 3 tablespoons tahini
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small garlic clove, crushed
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 2–4 tablespoons warm water
- Freshly ground black pepper
Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 200°C fan bake.
- Place the cauliflower and chickpeas on a large lined baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over the cumin, coriander, smoked paprika and black pepper. Toss well to coat.
- Roast for 25–30 minutes, turning once, until the cauliflower is golden and tender and the chickpeas are crisp.
- Meanwhile, make the dressing. Whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and honey. Gradually add warm water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dressing is smooth and pourable.
- Arrange the spinach or rocket on a serving platter and top with the warm roasted cauliflower and chickpeas.
- Scatter over the pomegranate seeds, mint, parsley and pistachios or walnuts.
- Drizzle with the lemon tahini dressing and serve while the cauliflower is still warm.
Brainfit Bonus
Try smelling the cumin, coriander and mint separately before you start cooking. Once the meal is ready, see whether you can identify those aromas in the finished dish.
It’s a simple demonstration of something we’ve been exploring all month: the more deliberately you notice, the more information you give your brain to work with.
ENJOY!
We are delighted to know that you care about keeping your brain and memory sharp. If you have a favourite recipe that you would like to share with our Brainfit® Community, please email us the details and we will look to include it in an upcoming newsletter.
