Thai Pumpkin Salad

Intro
Kiwi's eat pumpkins. I discovered - quite by accident - that some people around the world don't. Apparently some people consider pumpkins as stockfood!

I discovered this one night after inadvertently horrifying a young German lad who needed a bed for the night. He was hitchhiking through NZ and had come into the library late one afternoon looking for accommodation and it had just seemed rude to not take him home.

I've met a few interesting people this way - or just picking them up like the Czech lads of a few years back. They pitched their tent on my back lawn and spent a week camping out, reading books and swimming in the sea. A few months ago Youji from Japan, who was cycling around NZ, left his bike at the library overnight and came home for a homecooked meal (he ate like a horse - everything I gave him) before heading down to Wellington to stay with #1 Son. We are a friendly lot in Levin; my neighbour collected a French couple at the supermarket on New Years Eve just gone. They saw in the New Year at my place, stayed across the road for a few days and then headed down to my sister's home for a week before heading across Cook Strait.

Anyway, pumpkins. I love roasted pumpkin and this is a strong, tasty salad that stands up well to plain bbq steak or roast chicken. The leftovers are yummy in a sandwhich with crunchy lettuce.

Recipe

• 1 butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes,
• 1/4 cup olive oil,
• 1 cup roasted salted almonds, roughly chopped into thirds or halves,
• 200g feta, crumbled into chunks,
• 1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced,
• 1 bunch coriander, torn into leaves,

Place the pumpkin cubes in a large roasting dish and toss through the olive oil. Roast in the oven until cooked (about 20 minutes at 180 degrees or 375 fahrenheit).

Remove from oven, allow to cool then mix together with the remaining ingredients in a glass bowl (its prettier that way). Pour on some of the dressing and gently fork through to combine.

Dressing

• 4 cloves garlic: peeled and crushed,
• zest and juice of 4 limes,
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce,
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce,
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar or muscavado sugar or brown sugar,
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil,
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil,
• 1 fresh red chilli, sliced finely,
• salt, pepper.

Combine together in a jar. Keeps in the fridge for a week.

Variation:
Omit coriander, add seeded sliced cucumber, cubed avocado, thinly sliced red onions and feta cubes