Recipe: Foodprint Matariki Salad Recipe

This year the Foodprint team celebrated Matariki with a shared vegan office lunch made from plant-based foods representative of the Matariki stars.

We have had so many requests for the recipe, so for those of you who asked, here it is!

For the salad:

• 1kg of kūmara (peeled, diced into cubes and roasted)

• 4x cups of leafy greens (we used rocket)

• 1x cup of watercress (cleaned and chopped up)

• 1x 400g can of butter beans

• ⅓ a cup of dried seaweed (broken up)

• ⅓ a cup of toasted seeds

• Salt and pepper

• Olive oil

Peel kūmara and dice into small cubes. Toss in a little oil together with salt and pepper and roast on 180c for around 30mins until golden. Remove from oven and leave to cool. Rinse and dry leafy greens. Rinse the watercress and remove any thick stalks. We chopped ours up a little to make it easier to eat, but you can also leave it as it is if you prefer. Drain and rinse the butter beans. Lightly toast seeds in a pan on medium heat (be sure to keep a close eye on them as they can burn quickly). Layer ingredients (aside from seeds and seaweed) in a salad bowl. Break up dried seaweed on top and then sprinkle the seeds.

For the dressing we used a recipe we found online that was created by our friends at Little Bird Organics.

• the 1/3 cup filtered water

• 1/2 cup tahini

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

• 2T tamari

• 2T lemon juice

• 1/2T sea salt

• 1 medium-sized garlic clove

• 1T white sesame seeds

• 2/3 cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds until smooth. We used about 1/4 of the dressing to toss through the salad before serving and then each of us added a little more as we wished.

As we mentioned earlier, this recipe was designed to represent different stars in the Matariki constellation. Here is what each element represented.

🍠 Roasted kūmara and carrots to represent the star Tupuānuku

🥬 Fresh rocket and roasted seeds to represent the star Tupuārangi

🌱 Fresh watercress to represent Waitī

🌊 Seaweed and kelp salt to represent Waitā

A great salad to enjoy on its own or to accompany other dishes. We hope you enjoy!