Ingredients

• A bag of brussels sprouts 
• 4 shallots 
• 150g quinoa or brown rice 
• Cumin seeds 
• Salt and pepper 
• Olive oil 
• Cider vinegar 
• 1 garlic clove 
• Pomegranate seeds 
• Fresh coriander

Method 

Heat the oven to 180C. Trim and halve the sprouts and put into a big roasting dish. Roughly chop the shallots and add to the dish. Sprinkle with a little salt, roughly two teaspoonfuls of cumin seeds and some pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and give it all a good stir until well coated. Put into the oven and leave for about 45 mins to cook, though do remember to stir again halfway through. 

Meanwhile, cook the rice or quinoa. Boil the water and add the rinsed grain. When there is just the tiniest bit of bit left to the grain, drain in a sieve. Then rest the sieve over the pan (now off the heat), place a clean tea towel over the top, put the pan lid on top of this to seal and then leave to steam until everything else is prepared. 

On to the dressing. Grate a glove of garlic into a small jar, squeeze in the juice of one lemon. Add three teaspoons of cider vinegar and three to four of olive oil. Finely chop the coriander and add this to the jar too. Screw the lid tightly onto the jar and give the mixture a really good shake until the fat and acids have emulsified. 

By this point, your sprouts should be well roasted – ideally, very soft and browned at the edges. Scrape these into a big salad bowl (taking care to capture as many of the delicious toasted cumin seeds as you can) and add the quinoa or rice on top. Pour on all of the dressing and stir it gently together, making sure the dressing is well mixed through. If it looks a little dry, add a squeeze more lemon juice and perhaps a drop or two of olive oil. Finally, sprinkle your pomegranate seeds over the top and gently stir again. Serve warm or cold – either is delicious. 

For a lower carbohydrate dish with more protein, you could leave out the quinoa or rice and add some crumbled feta instead.