Chickpea, Halloumi & Pomegranate Tabbouleh with Spice Almonds

This is a beautiful dish. Salty halloumi, pomegranate, spiced almonds, buttery avocado and asparagus – I could eat it every day. If you have jarred rather than tinned chickpeas, by all means use those instead, but a quick stint in the marinade will work wonders even with ordinary tinned chickpeas. Recipe adapted from The Green Cookbook by Rukmini Iyer, published by Square Peg (£21.99). Photography by David Loftus ©

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Ingredients

vegetable stock cube 1
asparagus 125 g (sliced)
fresh mint 15 g (chopped)
fresh basil 15 g (chopped)
lemon 1 (zest & juice)
halloumi 225 g (sliced)
avocado 3 (sliced)
bulgur wheat 300 g
chickpeas 800 g (drained)
flaked almonds 80 g
olive oil 3 tbsp
smoked paprika 1 tsp
brown sugar 1 tsp
pomegranate seeds 200 g

Method

Prepare the ingredients and cook the bulgur wheat

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6. Make up the vegetable stock cube with 150ml boiling water per serving.
Trim the ends of the asparagus and slice diagonally. Tip the bulgur wheat into a large roasting tin, then scatter over the chickpeas. Pour over the stock, top with the asparagus, then transfer to the oven to bake for 15 minutes.
Finely chop the mint, finely chop the basil. Zest and juice the lemon. Slice the halloumi into 1 cm pieces. De-stone and slice the avocado.

Prepare the spiced almonds

In a small, shallow baking tray, mix together the almonds, oil, smoked paprika, brown sugar and season with salt to taste. Place the tray alongside or on another shelf of the oven for the last 10 minutes.

Prepare the dressing

In a small bowl, mix the basil and mint with the pomegranate seeds, olive oil, lemon zest and juice (reserve some juice for serving) and season with salt to taste.

Cook the halloumi

Remove the tin with the bulgur wheat from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
Heat a griddle pan (or any other large pan) on a medium-high heat and place the halloumi slices on it. Griddle/fry for 1–2 minutes per side until golden brown, then transfer to a plate.

Plate up

Fluff the bulgur wheat through with a fork and stir through the dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Plate up - top the bulgur wheat, with the halloumi, avocado, spiced almonds and a squeeze of the reserved lemon juice. Enjoy!

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