Spiced Roast Aubergine Salad with Chickpeas and Feta

For me, you can't beat a lovely warm salad at this time of year when your mind is telling you it's summer but your body is telling you it's cold!

I love aubergines but I know they can be a bit 'marmite' due to their texture... This method of cooking avoids all that rubberiness and squeakiness and leaves you with simply soft, gloriously-flavoured bites of heaven. The rest of the salad is basically just a combination of ingredients that I love, such as chickpeas, red onions, rocket and feta, and the dressing is a vibrant, exciting mix of tamarind, honey, garlic and lime. Make this, you won't regret it!

Spiced Roast Aubergine Salad with Chickpeas and Feta
Serves 2 as a main meal or 4-6 as a side

3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1½ tbsp tamarind paste 
1½ tbsp honey 
2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped 
1½ tsp cumin seeds, lightly toasted in a dry frying pan, then roughly crushed with a pestle and mortar 2 large aubergines, thinly sliced lengthways 
1 large red chilli, pricked with a knife 
1 red onion, cut into wedges
200g tinned chickpeas, drained 
100g rocket leaves 
Juice ½ lime 
60g feta 

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6 and, if using a griddle pan to cook the aubergine, heat over a fairly high heat.

Make the marinade/dressing by mixing together the olive oil, tamarind, honey, garlic, cumin and some salt and cracked black pepper. Rub half the marinade on the aubergine slices and whole chilli, then cook in the hot griddle pan for around 10 minutes, turning twice, until soft. If using the oven, spread out on a baking sheet and bake for around 15 minutes, turning once. On a smaller baking sheet, spread out the onion wedges, drizzle with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Put the onions in the oven with the aubergines and cook for roughly the same amount of time or until caramelised.

Once the aubergines and onions are cooked, roughly chop the chilli. Mix the remaining dressing with the lime juice then toss with the chickpeas and rocket in a large bowl. Mix in the aubergine, onions and chopped chilli, then serve, sprinkled with crumbled feta.

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