Healthy Non-green Salad

As much as I would like to add variety to my bentos, usually the time spent in preparing and freshness of the bento to stay are some of my considerations. I've tried preparing salad greens as a side to my main meals but they usually turn soggy. They really need to be eaten fresh, including the drizzling of the dressing. So no salads for my packed lunch. I'm running out of ideas...!

Happened to see this roasted pumpkin salad in the recent issue of "mindyourbody" The Straits Times. Recently they have been publishing articles on baked recipes! Some of them looks really good. :)

This pumpkin salad is an alternative to salad greens and is a really healthy dish! I don't have any likings for pumpkins in the past at all, probably cos' my mum don't introduce this dish in the house so very often, it became a dish we steer clear of, not really cos' we hate it. I think she only cooked pumpkin once in my lifetime, to my recall! I only started to know about this vegetable as I read more about food and healthy eating.

This roasted pumpkin turned out surprisingly tasty, as compared to my mum's. :P Made this for one of my lunch the other day. :) Below is the recipe for one serving.

Ingredients

1 purple onion (I used half big onion as I did not have purple onion)
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
About 0.4 kg pumpkin (including the skin)
6 cherry tomatoes
Some salt and pepper
Olive oil
1 green chilli (I omitted as I did not have)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Peel and slice onion. Squeeze lemon juice over the sliced onions. Add a pinch of salt to season and leave aside.
3. Peel pumpkin skin, and cut into large cubes. Add 1 tbsp olive oil, some salt and pepper to taste and mix well.
4. Place marinated pumpkin and cherry tomatoes on a baking tray and roast for about 30 minutes, till caramelised and burnt in parts.
5. Top with pickled onion rings and sliced green chiilies. You may add a swirl of olive oil.
6. Serve.

This is a versatile dish and you may add any dressing to your likings, or I would suggest some pumpkin seeds or nuts.

Took some pictures of my recent bentos. The lunch case looked cute and Jap hor...hehe. Bought from Daiso. it's supposed to keep packed food warm/cold cos' there's this aluminium foil layer underneath but it doesn't seemed to work though.

Tuna Mayo Sandwiches; more tuna; cherry tomatoes; orange. (The bread was my Hokkaido Loaf!)

Potato Salad with mayo, spring onions and bacon bits; fruits