With Black Eyed Peas & Sumac Roasted Carrots
You’ll love the use of grape leaves in this pilaf — it’s like a deconstructed dolma. The black-eyed peas and sumac roasted carrot add lashings of brightness and texture. This would be a wonderful side dish or main dish, basically, we’d eat this anytime!
A mostly-pantry pilaf — with the zippiness of fresh black-eyed peas and sumac roasted carrot that’s both satisfying and elegant!
Grape Leaf Pilaf
This salad is a shortcut way to get the extraordinary flavor of grape leaves that we often crave in an easy-yet-satisfying salad!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Freekeh
- 7 ounces Carrots
- 2 teaspoons Ground sumac
- 1 Lemons
- 0.25 ounce Dill Fresh
- 2 Scallions
- 1 cups Black Eyed Peas
- 1/4 cup Vegan Yogurt
- 4 stuffed Grape leaves
- 2 ounces Kumquats
- 3 tablespoons Olive Oil Extra Virgin
- 1 tablespoon Salt & Pepper To taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F (205 °C). Add the freekeh to a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Toast in the dry pan, shaking occasionally, until the grains are fragrant, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add 1¾ cups water and a pinch of salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer freekeh until tender, about 23 to 25 minutes. Drain any remaining water and return to the pan.
- Peel the carrots and cut into 4 inch long sticks. Transfer to a baking sheet and toss with 1 tbsp olive oil, sumac, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Roast carrots until slightly browned and tender, about 14 to 18 minutes.
- Pick the dill fronds and roughly chop. Thinly slice the scallions. Halve the lemon. Combine the chopped dill, scallions, black-eyed peas, juice from half the lemon, and 2 tbsp olive oil in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
- Place the yogurt in a small bowl. Add the juice from the remaining lemon half and a pinch of salt and stir to combine. Roughly chop the stuffed grape leaves. Halve the kumquats.
- Once the freekeh is finished, stir in the chopped grape leaves and season with salt and pepper.
- Divide the grape leaf pilaf between large bowls. Top with marinated black-eyed peas, sumac roasted carrots, and kumquats. Drizzle with lemon yogurt.
Notes
FOR AWESOME COMBINATION: Once complete, and smothered in lemon yogurt sauce, I tossed all the ingredients together to mix the sweet and tart together.
*SUMAC NOTES: Sumac is a lemon flavored spice but lemon pepper or just lemon zest is a good substitute.
**KUMQUATS: Use dried apricots instead of kumquats if they are not available.
