Roasted Acorn Squash With Quinoa and Chickpeas Medley

ROASTED ACORN SQUASH WITH QUINOA AND CHICKPEAS MEDLEY

Ingredients for roasting squash:
1 acorn squash, 1 tbsp olive oil, 4 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1/4 cup dry cranberries, 1tsp crushed fennel seeds, salt and pepper to taste, few pieces of walnuts, ground allspice
Ingredients for Chickpeas medley:
1 can of chickpeas, 1/2 red pepper chopped, 1/2 cup chopped tomato, 2 cups tightly packed chopped spinach, 1 tbsp minced ginger and garlic, 1 tbsp chopped onion, 3-4 green chillies chopped, 2 tbsp olive oil
Ingredients for cooking quinoa:
1 cup quinoa, 1.75 cups water, 1 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper
Method:
Mix cranberries, fennel seeds, 2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp brown sugar in a small bowl. Put it aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8′ square baking pan with wet parchment paper.

Cut the acorn squash in quarters. Scoop out the seeds. Pierce each quarter using a fork or toothpick without going all through.

Place the squash quarters in the prepared pan. Mix olive oil the remaining 2 tbsp lemon juice and brown sugar. Brush this mixture on the squash. Also sprinkle some salt, pepper and all spice powder.

Roast the squash uncovered, until tender but not completely done; approx 35 minutes.

Rinse the quinoa really well in a sieve.

Place it in a saucepan with water salt and black pepper. Bring it to boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.
While the quinoa is cooking , heat oil in a skillet.

Add chopped, ginger and garlic. Fry till light brown.

Add chopped red pepper, chopped tomatoes and chopped spinach, cooking each of them for two minutes before adding the next one. Finally add chopped green chillies, chickpeas and salt.

Stir it nicely and remove from heat. By now the squash would be 90% cooked.

Remove the pan with squash from oven and divide the cranberry mixture evenly among them. Put some walnuts on top and roast it again for 10 -15 minutes.

After 18- 20 minutes remove quinoa from heat and let it sit covered for 10 minutes.

Heat a small pan with 1/4 cup or less oil in it.

Cut 1/4 of an onion in thin slices. Toss with 1 tsp cornstarch and a pinch of salt.

Fry the onions in hot oil until nicely golden brown.

Fluff quinoa with fork. Remove the squash quarters from the oven.

Serve lovely warm squash with quinoa and chickpeas medley.

Note: I used whole fennel seeds in this recipe but next time I will crush them before using for easy biting.