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Cypriot Grain Salad

April 29, 2012 by Tash 5 Comments

UPDATE: There is a more recent version of this recipe on the blog here

If you’ve been eating not-so-healthily, this meal should hopefully make you feel a lot better about your eating habits. It’s been one of my favourite eats since I tried it at Hellenic Republic in Brunswick. This salad is a great side with any Mediterranean mains or a great weeknight meal topped with chicken or fish. It’s also great as a packed lunch and keeps well for up to a week.

If you’ve never heard of freekeh before, well, neither had I before this recipe. It has a nutty flavour and is rich in iron, zinc, potassium and calcium. Freekeh has a high protein content and four times the fibre of brown rice. You should be able to get it at your local market or health food store, otherwise, try online.

I should add a disclaimer: This is a feelgood meal and I’m only posting this because there are lots of desserts to come.

Cypriot Grain Salad
 
Print recipe
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
50 mins
Total time
1 hour 5 mins
 
Source: George Calombaris at Hellenic Republic
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • ½ cup freekeh
  • ½ cup french green lentils (also called Puy lentils)
  • ½ bunch coriander, shredded (or approx 3 tbsp chopped)
  • ½ bunch Italian parsley, shredded (or approx 3 tbsp chopped)
  • 1 small red onion, finely diced
  • 4 tbsp slivered almonds
  • 4 tbsp pumpkin seeds
  • 4 tbsp sunflower seeds
  • 4 tbsp currants
  • 1 tbsp baby capers, chopped
  • Half a pomegranate (optional)
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive
  • Sea salt to taste
Yoghurt dressing
  • ½ cup thick Greek yoghurt
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tbsp honey
Instructions
  1. Start by cooking the freekeh and puy lentils separately. Cook the freekeh in 1¼ cups of cold water with ½ tsp salt and a splash of olive oil. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Cover the saucepan, lower heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes if cooking cracked grain, and 40-45 minutes for whole grain. Ensure all water is absorbed and grains are tender before removing from the saucepan.
  2. Rinse lentils, then cook in 1½ cups cold water. Bring to boil and cook for 20 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Do not overcook.
  3. Drain freekeh and lentils.
  4. Lightly toast almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds in the oven.
  5. Mix freekeh and lentils with the chopped coriander and parsley, diced onion, currants, capers and pomegranate seeds. Add lemon juice and olive oil, then salt to taste.
  6. Add toasted nuts and stir to combine.
  7. To make the yoghurt dressing, lightly toast cumin seeds in a pan, then grind using a mortar and pestle. Stir into yoghurt and honey.
  8. Serve with grilled chicken or vegetables.
Tash's Top Tips
Put a saucer over the colander, directly on the grains to weight them down a bit - this helps with draining excess water. Soggy grains will result in a watery salad that will not keep well. If grains are still soggy, spread them over a clean tea towel to drain excess water.
If you’re not planning on serving the salad immediately, then don’t add the toasted nut mix to the grains as they will lose their crunchiness. Only mix in the toasted nuts when the salad is ready to serve or they’ll lose their crunch.
3.4.3177

 

Filed Under: Salads, Sides, Vegetarian Tagged With: hellenic republic, mediterranean

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Brooke

    April 30, 2012 at 7:44 PM

    I love this salad – I hunted down the recipe after eating it at HR, too! It’s so yummy but makes you feel so virtuous 🙂 I haven’t tried it with pomegranate though…

    Reply
  2. Janette kilikidis

    February 19, 2014 at 3:40 PM

    This salad is wonderful. So wonderful that I am keeping the recipe a secret. Everyone loves it. Didn’t change the ingredients at all and the pomegranite is a must!!

    Reply
    • Tash

      March 30, 2014 at 12:08 PM

      Glad you (and everyone) love it! Great food is to be shared though, don’t feel like you have to keep the recipe a secret – if all food bloggers kept their recipes secret the world would be a much less tastier place, don’t you think?

      Reply
      • Jane Walton

        October 7, 2016 at 5:44 PM

        I had to comment on this, I always share my recipes as its a huge compliment, I asked one elderly relative (years ago) her recipe after a delicious chicken and asparagus dish and she refused and the recipe has died with her and that is sooo sad as I always name the recipe after that person.

        Reply
        • Tash

          October 7, 2016 at 5:59 PM

          I’m so with you – recipe and credit; because don’t we want more people to eat more delicious things? After all, I have watched, followed and blogged my grandma Nancy’s recipes for years and when I cook them, it still doesn’t taste like hers. I think every cook adds their own flair to a recipe that they follow.

          Reply

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Hi, I’m Tash

My life revolves around deciding what my next meal will be and there's nothing I love more than sharing my recipes. Restaurant reviewer and ex-Masterchef Australia contestant. Avid kitchen gadget collector, recipe book hoarder and only a tiny bit crazy cat lady. Read More…

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