Oat and Spinach Wraps with BBQ Chickpeas, Pumpkin and Tahini
This combination of oat and spinach wraps with BBQ chickpeas, roasted pumpkin and tahini dressing is just delicious. Throw in some salad and crisp red cabbage and you have so many incredible textures in every bite, not to mention those flavours. This dish is gluten free, nut-free and doesn’t require any special equipment or fancy ingredients. In fact, I specifically designed with this recipe with store cupboard and freezer ingredients in mind.
My favourite way to eat a meal is to have lots of different dishes to choose from. When we curate our own plate from a selection of offerings, we can appreciate each thing individually and enjoy everything together. I love a bit of interaction when it comes to a meal. Whether that’s creating a Buddha bowl, dunking into dips or just choosing from a selection of seasonings. I actually rarely serve up a finished plate, because it’s little things like the amount of black pepper we use or a cheeky squeeze of lemon that really make a meal uniquely suited to us. We’ve all got our own finely tuned preferences.
There’s nothing more hands on than loading up a delicious wrap as far as I’m concerned. I’m definitely one of those people who over-fills and then has to compensate by using my hands as part of the wrap. Will I make it to my mouth, or won’t I? It’s a buzz.
I’ve not managed to find many wraps here in UK that don’t contain palm oil and weird preservatives, so we usually make our own. For this recipe, I really wanted to come up with a gluten-free wrap. I personally do not have a sensitivity to gluten and love a wholewheat wrap, roti or flatbread, but I wanted to come up with something that my gluten-free friends could also enjoy. It turns out that good old oat flour does the job perfectly. To make oat flour, you can just blend up regular oats in a blender. (If you’re not gluten free, you could of course use wheat flour in place of the oat flour.) I always have a stash of spinach in the freezer and mixing it into the dough has become one of my favourite ways to use it. If you only have fresh spinach, you’ll need to steam it and give it a whizz in a food processor before using, so that it can blend into the dough.
The other main ingredients in these oat and spinach wraps is aquafaba (chickpea juice). It acts as a binder (like an egg would) and keeps the wraps nice and soft. They aren’t chewy like wraps made with gluten and when they first come out of the pan they will seem a little brittle, but once they’ve rested a little, they’ll become soft and flexible. Perfect for cramming full of tasty fillings.
The secret to delicious chickpeas is to use quite a bit more seasoning than you feel you should. You need to be bold when it comes to chickpeas. Either enjoy them plain, as they are, or really load up on herbs and spices. There’s no in between as far as I’m concerned. Roasted chickpeas with a light sprinkling of paprika? No thank you.
These chickpeas are seasoned with a delicious blend of sweet and smoked paprika, cumin and chilli powder, before we add tamari and maple syrup to really get them singing. It’s important to add everything at the right time as well, otherwise you’ll just end up with bitter, burned spices and no one wants that.
Nothing fancy with the roast pumpkin (you can also use squash instead). It just needs a little oil and salt (or leave the oil out if you prefer and just splash with a little water before roasting) and plenty of time in the oven. I like to leave the skin on my pumpkins and squashes, particularly if they’re organic. You can always cook yours with the skin on and then cut it off it’s too tough.
I really recommend roasting the seeds of your pumpkin or squash, rather than throwing them out. All you need to do is season with a little salt, oil and your favourite spices. My go to is paprika and chilli powder. Pop them in the oven at 180°C/350°F/gas 4 for about 10 minutes and they should be nice and crunchy. I always used to spend ages trying to clean pumpkin/squash seeds before roasting seasoning them, but nowadays I just pull of the stringy bits and use the natural stickiness to help the spices stick. This way you don’t actually need to use oil if you don’t want to.
The tahini dressing is a super simple slap it together type of thing. When creating a creamy dressing using any seed or nut butter, the key is to add a small amount of water at a time. Start with a couple of teaspoons, mix and then add more, a teaspoon at a time. Gradually everything will emulsify and become smooth and creamy. Trust the process.
Ingredients (serves 2)
For the Oat and Spinach Wraps (makes 4-5)
1 + 1/4 cups oat flour, plus a little extra for for rolling (certified gluten free if necessary)
1/2 cup frozen spinach defrosted
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
large pinch of salt
4 tablespoons aquafaba (juice from a can of chickpeas)
For the BBQ Chickpeas
2 teaspoons oil of choice
1 can chickpeas (reserve the liquid)
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon mild chilli powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons tamari
1+1/2 teaspoons maple syrup
For the Roast Pumpkin
A small pumpkin or squash (or as much as you would like to eat)
A little olive oil (optional)
Pinch of sea salt
For the Tahini Dressing
2 tablespoons tahini
tiny pinch of salt
A squeeze of lemon
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (optional)
Water (see method)
To serve
Your favourite salad mix
Finely sliced red cabbage
Roasted pumpkin seeds (see notes above on how to do this)
Method
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4
Chop your pumpkin or squash into chunks. Remove the seeds and set them aside so that you can roast them (see my notes above).
Season your pumpkin or squash with a little olive oil (or omit if you prefer and splash a little water over it) and sprinkle with sea salt. Then spread out on a baking tray and leave to roast for about 45 mins while you get to work on the rest of the meal. Remove from the oven when soft.
Now make your dough for the wraps. Combine the oat flour, spices and salt and mix well. Then add the spinach and aquafaba. It will be very wet and sticky at first so mix everything together with a wooden spoon as best you can and let everything sit for a few minutes.
Now use your hand to really bring everything together. Knead for a few minutes until you have a lovely smooth dough. Return this to your mixing bowl and leave it to sit while you make your chickpeas.
Heat up a frying pan with just one teaspoon of cooking oil. When hot, add your chickpeas, roll them around in the oil and then leave them undisturbed for a couple of minutes. Then you can start giving the pan a bit of a shake every now and then for another 2 minutes. By this time the chickpeas should have a bit of colour to them.
When chickpeas get really hot they can pop and fly out of the pan, so be careful.
Now add your chilli powder, smoked paprika, sweet paprika and cumin, along with the other teaspoon of oil and fry for another 30 seconds or so until the spices are fragrant.
Now add your tamari, maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt and continue to fry for another 30 seconds or so until there is no liquid in the pan and your chickpeas are dark and caramelised. You’ll have to scrape the bottom of the pan every now and then. Set aside (you may want to re-heat them briefly before serving)
Separate your dough into 4 or 5 even sized balls. Then lightly coat a clean surface with oat flour.
Take your first ball and flatten it with your hands. Then turn it over (so both sides are coated with a little flour) before carefully rolling it out into a circle as best you can. It wont get any thicker as it cooks, so aim for the thickness of a regular wrap. Set aside and repeat with the rest of the dough.
Now warm up your pan over a medium heat. As long as your pan is non-stick you shouldn’t need to use any oil, but you can use a tiny amount if you really need to.
Place the first wrap in the pan and leave it for about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, until the underside is dry and has little golden spots on it. Then flip it over and cook for another 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. This will depend on how hot your pan is and how thick your wraps are. They’ll look a bit dry when they’re done, but will soften up.
Repeat with each wrap and when they’re done, stack them on top of each other on a small plate. The heat and moisture from doing this will soften them slightly.
To make your tahini dressing, start by combining the tahini, lemon juice and salt. Then add a few teaspoons of water and mix. Keep adding water 1 or 2 teaspoons at a time and mixing, until you have a creamy smooth consistency. Then drizzle in a little olive oil and mix.
Once your pumpkin is ready, your chickpeas are warm and you’ve prepared a salad, you’re ready to go! I recommend serving up each element of the wrap in a separate bowl so you and your dinner guests can make their own wraps as they go along.