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Spelt and bean salad with harissa dressing

Sat, 3 May, 2025

⯆ JUMP TO RECIPE
Fibre, protein and plenty of plant-derived nutrition: this is a healthy salad which also tastes delicious.

spelt and bean salad with harissa dressing cuisinefiend.com

How to cook spelt?

Spelt is an ancient grain, a variety of wheat, much beloved of the Romans. On the other hand, what did Romans not love?

Spelt grain comes in various stages of processing. Wholegrain spelt, the unprocessed whole cereal, is nutritionally the most valuable but it needs soaking and cooking for ages.

Pearled spelt is partly processed as it’s de-husked and de-germed. It makes for easier cooking but is obviously a little less ‘whole’ nutritionally.

spelt grain cuisinefiend.com

Then there is instant or quick cook spelt which, as all quick and instant products, is the least beneficial even though you might like the speed and the taste.

Finally, whole cooked spelt is available in vacuum packed pouches, and it’s both good for us and convenient – but pricey.

So unless I want to spend hours soaking and cooking, I usually go for pearled spelt. You win some and you lose some, as with everything.

Pearled spelt cooks reasonably quickly, about twenty minutes of simmering in a big pan of water – at least three times the volume.

cooked spelt cuisinefiend.com

But if you have a rice cooker that can be used for other grains than rice (don’t want to suggest you wreck your rice cooker so better check the instructions), it will also cook spelt nicely on a standard program. Measure it out in volume and add about three times as much water for the machine.

pearled spelt salad with beans cuisinefiend.com

Beans and spelt

Instead of sprinkling cooked spelt grains over a pile of salad leaves, like they do in cafés, I pair it with beans. That makes the dish not only more interesting but filling, satisfying and highly nutritious.

Both beans and spelt are high in both protein and fibre: the two macronutrients that decide on whether we still go hungry after a meal. Beans and spelt will fill you up, and they are a surprisingly good combination. Although on second thoughts it perhaps shouldn’t be surprising: beans and grains together are a staple worldwide.

Beans and rice are combined into various dishes in North, Latin America and the Caribbean. In Asia there are numerous bean and rice dishes, and even in Europe: the Portuguese feijoada, bean stew with rice.

The Middle East goes for bulgur wheat or couscous with lentils or chickpeas, in Africa they often cook teff with beans or lentils and if you think about it, the English national dish of beans on toast is a combo of pulses (Heinz best) and grains (Hovis sliced). Who knew?

But I promise that this dish, albeit slightly more effortful than opening a tin and toasting a slice, is much more delicious.

cannellini beans cuisinefiend.com

How to make the harissa dressing

Beans and spelt might be very nutritious and filling, but if you tried them au naturel, without a seasoning or dressing, there’s no denying they’d be bland, boring and very uninteresting.

Harissa dressing brings it out and zings it up several levels. And it’s a good recipe to chalk up, as there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use the dressing on all kinds of salads, including plain old lettuce leaves.

Harissa is the Middle Eastern chilli paste, deeper in flavour and lighter in heat than ordinary chilli pastes because it’s made with at least two types of peppers, hotter and milder, as well as garlic, herbs, seeds and olive oil. Rose harissa, a variety of the condiment, additionally contains rose petals, making it yet more fragrant and complex in flavour. I always go for that, not least because it also sounds lovely.

The dressing itself though is not at all complex in making. Salt and black pepper, because the beans and spelt have not been at all seasoned, olive oil and lemon juice, then harissa and pomegranate molasses for the full ethnic flavour. If you don’t have pomegranate molasses, use honey.

To assemble, it’s best to stir the dressing into beans and spelt first, and only then add tomatoes and lettuce, otherwise the latter two will become a little wilted and mangled.

assembling spelt salad cuisinefiend.com

And I like to keep a tub of the spelt-beans-harissa base in the fridge (and it will keep for a good few days), and make up a bowl of salad for lunch on a daily basis, adding tomatoes, avocado, nuts, cucumber and whatever else I fancy.

spelt bean and harissa salad cuisinefiend.com

More bean recipes

Avocado and red kidney bean salad with crispy garlic and crunchy seed and nut topping, the garlic and the topping alone make this recipe worth trying!

Butter beans and chorizo dish with crispy Parmesan topping, a little heat from a chilli and saltiness from anchovy. Beans and sausage, but not as you know it!

Crispy pork mince, kidney beans and Romaine lettuce salad with mixed toasted seeds. Caramelised pork crumbs are the best thing since crispy bacon!

More healthy grain salad recipes

Couscous with asparagus chunks, toasted pistachio nuts and fresh herbs, it’s a warm salad of perfectly matched ingredients.

Simple chickpea salad with pancetta, red pepper and mushrooms makes a quick and easy lunchtime dish. Tinned chickpeas are dry roasted in a pan with cayenne pepper.

Brown butter lentil and sweet potato salad is a delicious combo of roasted sweet potato chunks, green or puy lentils cooked from scratch and a super flavoursome dressing made with sage leaves and brown butter. With crumbled blue or goats cheese on top, optionally.

spelt salad ingredients cuisinefiend.com



Spelt and bean salad with harissa dressing

Servings: 2Time: 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 100 g (½ cup) pearled spelt
  • 1 x 400g (14 oz) tin of cannellini beans
  • 100 g (3 oz) lettuce
  • 100 g (3 oz) cherry tomatoes
  • For the dressing:
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
  • 1 tbsp rose harissa


METHOD

1. Bring a large pan of water (at least 3 x the volume of spelt) to the boil and add the spelt. Simmer for 20 minutes until al dente. Drain, return to the pan and fluff up with a fork. If you have a rice cooker, you can use that on basic programme.

2. Drain the beans and rinse with cold water. Leave on a sieve to dry. Finely shred the lettuce and halve the tomatoes.

3. Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing together.

4. In a serving bowl toss the spelt and beans with the dressing. Fold through the lettuce and tomatoes and serve.


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Hello! I'm Anna Gaze, the Cuisine Fiend. Welcome to my recipe collection.

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