Halloumi, chickpea and lentil salad

This is another salad which is very forgiving and can be adapted to whatever vegetables you prefer or have on hand. I do enjoy this mix though as I feel there is a perfect balance of flavours, salty halloumi, creamy avocado, peppery rocket, tangy sweetness from the tomatoes and beetroot, all set off with a sharp and salty caper filled lemon dressing. It really hits all the flavour notes you’d want from a salad and then the lentil and chickpeas round it out to make it more of a substantial meal.

However, feel free to play around. The lentil and chickpeas in this recipe make it very filling, you might prefer to reduce the quantities of these or even just have one or the other and up the salad. You could swap in couscous or quinoa instead or even pasta if preferred. If you are in the mood for meat, then adding some sliced chorizo is a nice option and this can be fried alongside the halloumi so is barely any extra trouble at all.

Serves 4

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• ½ red onion

• 1 lemon

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tbsp capers, roughly chopped

• 200g puy lentils (I used most of a 250g pre cooked pouch, and microwaves this for about 45 seconds to heat per packet instructions)

• 1 can of chickpeas, drained

• 150g cooked beetroot sliced in to matchsticks

• 1 avocado, destoned, skin removed and diced

• Approx. 15 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered as preferred

• Handful of parsley, chopped

• Big handful of rocket leaves, about 100g

• 250g pack halloumi, cut in to slices

Method

1. Zest the lemon and set aside for later.

2. Slice the red onion into thin slices and soak in the juice of ½ a lemon with a pinch of salt and leave to marinate. Leaving the onions in the lemon juice mellows the strong flavour of the raw onion making it more pleasant to eat.

3. In a large salad bowl juice the remaining half of the lemon, add the lemon zest from earlier and add in the extra virgin olive oil along with the roughly chopped capers and a crack of black pepper and mix.

4. Add the lentils and chickpeas in to the bowl with the dressing and toss.

5. Add the red onion along with the lemon juice it was steeping in, beetroot, cherry tomatoes, parsley, avocado (unless it is very ripe and getting mushy, in which case just add it at the end when serving up) and rocket and toss.  

6. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and lightly oil. Fry the halloumi for one to two minutes until it has a nice golden colour. Flip and fry the other side.

7. Plate up the salad and once the halloumi is cooked, top the salad with it. Eat as soon as possible whilst the halloumi is still warm (else it tends to get a bit tough).