Enchilada Chickpea & Squash Bake

It’s Halloween this week and there are pumpkins and squash everywhere, but how many of you are planning to eat them?  Here’s a delicious recipe for putting that delicious vegetable to work!

Ingredients for 2 servings

500g	squash flesh, baked weight
400g	chickpeas, tinned
80g	onions, sliced
80g	celery, sliced
100g	peppers, sliced
2 tsp	smoked paprika
1	chilli, sliced, seeds or no seeds up to you!
1 tbsp	olive oil
	spray oil
400g	passata
100ml	water
2 tbsp	tomato ketchup
1	garlic clove, chopped or crushed
50g	spinach
10g	fresh coriander
6	pickled jalepeno slices
70g	cheddar cheese, grated
	salt and pepper

(Example ingredient amounts given, adjust accordingly to your requirements)

Method

• Pre-heat your oven to 190°C fan/400°F .
• Cut the squash or pumpkin in half, scrape out the seeds, spritz with the spray oil before placing on a baking tray.
• Bake the squash or pumpkin until the flesh is tender.  For me this took approximately 45 minutes.
• When the squash or pumpkin is ready, carefully remove it from the oven and using a spoon, scrape out the soft flesh being careful not to damage the outer skin as we are going to use this.
• Place a large frying pan onto the heat and add the oil, sliced onion, sliced peppers, sliced celery garlic and chilli.
• When they have softened, add the drained chickpea along with the smoked paprika and stir fry for a minute before adding the cooked squash/pumpkin flesh, passata, ketchup and water.
• Give everything a good stir and leave it to simmer for 10 minutes.
• Season it to taste and let it simmer until it’s lovely and thick in texture – this should only take another few minutes.
• Add the spinach to the pan and stir it in to wilt it before tearing and adding the coriander.
• Carefully spoon the mixture into the baked squash/pumpkin skins, top with cheese and bake until golden brown.
• Serve with the jalapeño slices and enjoy!

Notes

• To make this vegan/plant based, swap the cheese and ketchup for suitable alternatives.
• Kidney beans would be a great alternative to chickpeas!