Cajun spiced pumpkin, sweet potato and chickpea filo parcels withgarlic and herb wedges

If you're like me the cold has changed your mind set and the days of a quick salad for supper are gone for the next 6 months. The weather right now calls for meals like this one. Hearty, healthy and full of flavour.

Think of this as a posh vegan pie and chips, there's a lot to this recipe so I'll get to it.

Click below for the recipe

To start off you're going to need the following:

For filo parcel

1/2 a small pumpkin, cubed

1 large sweet potato, cubed

1 shallot, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 tablespoon Cajun spice mix (recipe below)

1 bag of spinach, washed

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 pack of filo pastry  (I used just roll as it states it's vegan on the packaging)

Flaked almonds

For potato wedges

1 large potato, cut into wedges

1 tablespoon oil (I used olive)

1 teaspoon garlic granules

1 teaspoon mix herbs

Method

For filo parcel

1. Boil the sweet potato and pumpkin until tender. Drain and let steam dry.

2. Fry the shallot and garlic for 5 minutes, add the spices and stir for 3 minutes.

3. Place the shallot, garlic and spice mix in a food processor and blitz. Add the pumpkin and sweet potato and blitz again until you have a chunky paste.

4. Place the spinach in a frying pan with a tablespoon of water and wilt. Once wilted, squeeze out all the excess water and chop.

5. Add the spinach and chickpeas to the food processor and blitz to combine, the chickpeas should still be chunky.

6. Take one sheet of filo and brush with a small amount of olive oil/vegan butter. Fold in half and then fold into a triangle. Place a spoon full of the filling to the left of the triangle, fold the right side over the top and fold over the edges.

7. Brush the top with a little oil and sprinkle some of the almonds on top.

8. Place the parcels on a tray and bake in the oven at gas mark 6/200c for twenty minutes until brown.

For potato wedges

1. Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix together.

2. Put the wedges on to a baking tray and put into the oven at gas mark 6/200c for 45 minutes until crisp and golden. 

I served it up with some chantanay carrots and tenderstem broccoli and I can say it was perfect. The whole meal was filling and just right for a cold, rainy day. If you can't get hold of a good pumpkin you can sub it for butternut squash.

Cajun spice mix

1/8 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon coriander

1/8 teaspoon cayenne 

1/8 teaspoon garlic granules

1/8 teaspoon onion granules

1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/8 teaspoon smoked salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

If you make this dish then please Instagram or tweet a picture with #neveggie so I can see what you've done. Also I'm on Instagram and Twitter so if you like what you see follow me on both for more instant access to recipes in the future. 

Enjoy!