This is the perfect summer salad to serve alongside at your next barbecue. It goes perfectly with grilled steak, poultry or roasts. Its good, its different! You start by slathering pumpkin in a combination of warm earthy spices, bake until beautifully caramelised and tender then topped with nutty barley, crunchy pepitas, yoghurt and a good dose of fresh herbs in a lemony dressing. Throw some nuts on for crunch and your good to go!

I came across this beautiful salad by Matt Moran while scrolling through some reels on Facebook, and I immediately knew I had to try it. With all the herbs growing in my garden, yogurt in the fridge, and some pumpkin that needed to be used, it was a no-brainer. The fresh herbs made it look so vibrant and inviting.

Of course, I couldn’t resist adding my own twist, as I always do. I had a big container of cooked barley in the fridge, which I thought would be a lovely addition to the salad. Its nutty flavour and chewy texture paired wonderfully with the tender pumpkin. I also tossed in some almonds and garam masala for extra flavour.

I’ll definitely be making this salad again! Next time though, I will make sure to use ‘wedges’ of pumpkin (like Matt Moran did) rather than large cubes. They look much prettier but unfortunately my pumpkin was already cut into chunks. Enjoy!

Sorry the pics are not a great indication of the salad. It was late in the evening, no natural light and I was in a rush. I will remake this salad soon and will be sure to update the photos.

This salad was inspired by Matt Moran and the only changes I made was some garam masala to the spice mix, cooked barley to the salad and almonds to top it off.

Ingredients

SPICED PUMPKIN

½ large Kent pumpkin, cut into wedges
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or olive oil)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ – 1 teaspoon chilli powder or flakes
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
½ teaspoon cracked black pepper

SALAD

1 cup cooked barley
¼ cup pepitas, lightly toasted
½ cup natural Greek style yoghurt
1 cup mixed fresh herb sprigs (dill, mint, coriander, parsely)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil (or olive oil)
2 tablespoons dry roasted almonds, roughly chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 220℃ (200℃ fan forced). Line a baking tray with baking paper and arrange pumpkin onto tray. Drizzle with grapeseed oil and sprinkle with combined spices and salt and pepper. Toss well to coat. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until pumpkin is tender and caramelised. Allow pumpkin to cool slightly before making the salad.
To serve, sprinkle half of the barley over a serving plate. Arrange slightly cooled cooked pumpkin over the top. Sprinkle with remaining barley and the pepitas. Dollop over the yoghurt.
Combine herbs in a bowl with lemon juice and olive oil. Season lightly and toss to coat. Sprinkle them over the salad along with the almonds. Serve immediately.

Notes

COOKS NOTES:
Oven Temps: Oven temperatures are for conventional, if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C.
Measurements: We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon = 5 ml, 1 tablespoon = 20 ml & 1 cup = 250 ml.
Herbs: All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed.
Vegetables: All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified.
Eggs: We use extra-large size and eggs are 55-60 g each, unless specified.

Hello! I'm Kate.

Spiced Roasted Pumpkin Salad with Barley, Yoghurt & Herbs