Simpler Spiced Vegetable Roast

[highlyeccentric]

This is in the same vein as spicy vegetable bake with couscous, only, well, simpler.


This recipe is: vegetarian
This recipe could be: vegan/lactose free (the cheese isn't central), gluten free (make a rice side dish instead of couscous), meat-based (would be great with chicken pieces, i suspect; would also work as a side to lamb shishkebab)
This recipe requires: chopping, a couple of stages of preparation, at least two separate cooking dishes (although only one goes in the oven)


What you need:
Half a large cauliflower, in florets
A small sweet potato (kumara), in 1 inch-ish pieces
3 tbsp or thereabouts of olive oil
3 diced garlic cloves
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp pepper (i didn't add this this time but I should have)
400g can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
100g pine nuts
Some feta or halloumi cheese (i was using up the end of a feta block - haloumi would be better but would require separate grilling or frying)
1 cup instant couscous
1-2tbsp lemon juice
Dash of cinnamon

What you do with it:

- par-cook the kumara 4 min in a microwave (or I think about 15 min in an oven?)
- Toss kumara, cauliflower florets, oil, and spices. Roast at 180 degrees for 20-30 min
- Add chickpeas and pine nuts, toss again, cook 10 min
- Meanwhile boil 1 cup of water, add it, with the lemon juice and cinnamon, to the instant couscous
- serve roast veg on top of couscous, with cheese to garnish