delica pumpkin with chickpeas

Ingredients

• 1/2 of Delica Pumpkin (do not confuse with delicata, they are two different types of pumpkin!)

• 1 Jar or 2 Cans of Chickpeas

• Smoked Paprika

• 2 - 4 Whole Garlic Cloves

• Salt

• Olive oil

For the Sauce

• 100ml Natural Yoghurt

• 1 tbs Lemon Juice

• 1 tbs Tahini

• 1 tsp Honey

• Lukeworm Water (optional, if needed)

• a bunch of Herbs (parsley, coriander or chive are all a good choice)

To make a vegan version of this dish, simply swap yoghurt for 100ml of water and honey for maple syrup.

Method

Wash, core and slice delica pumpkin into crescent shapes, do not peel it. Place the slices and whole garlic cloves on a baking tray, season well and drizzle some olive oil on top. Roast in preheated oven in 200 °C for 20 minutes.

In a meantime drain chickpeas. Remove delica from an oven, add chickpeas and mix. Remove garlic cloves and leave them aside. Lower the heat to 180 °C and roast the mixture for another 20 minutes.

To prepare the sauce simply combine all the ingredients together. Peel the garlic, it should be really soft, squash it with a fork and add into the tahini sauce. Occasionally, depending on tahini texture, the mixture can be too thick, to fix that simply add a few drops of water or a little bit more yoghurt. Pour the sauce on top of the roast and sprinkle chopped herbs on top.

Serve with rice or bulgur wheat.

Nutrition facts

This dish makes an excellent, nutrient rich dinner for vegans and vegetarians. Chickpeas are especially good for those who avoid meat and meat products because they are the second (after soya) most rich plant source of amino acids and a good source of non-heme Iron.

Like most of winter pumpkins, delica is very rich in Carotenoids, which our body turns into Vitamin A. It is good to know that we absorb Carotenoids in bigger quantities from vegetables that have been cooked rather than from raw ones.

Both delica, especially its crunchy skin and chickpeas are good sources of fibre.