I made this tasty lukewarm chickpea salad last weekend as a countermeasure against some quite unhealthy days during the week. Those were a series of (Belgian) strong beers, burger, fries, barbecue and shots. My body really needed something healthy.
I love chickpeas, and with only 15 minutes of work and only a few main ingredients everybody can make this. I used cherry tomatoes in three different colours (yellow, red, dark red). Additionally come two small chopped red onions and cilantro, also finely chopped. If you don't like the taste of cilantro, you may use flat leaf parsley instead. Mix it and add some olive oil and lemon juice to bring it up to taste. The baked chickpeas then make up for the lukewarm part of this recipe.
Tasty lukewarm chickpea salad
Ingredients
- 400 gram chickpeas
- 500 gram cherry tomatoes different colours
- 2 pieces red onions small ones, or one big red onion
- 15 gram fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- olive oil
- cumin
- ras el hanout
- pepper
- salt
Instructions
- Halve the cherry tomatoes.
- Chop the onions and the cilantro fine.
- Mix the halved cherry tomatoes, onions and cilantro.
- Season the mixture with the lemon juice and some olive oil.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan.
- Bake the chickpeas for 4 minutes on low heat.
- Season with cumin, ras el hanout, pepper and salt.
- Mix the chickpeas well, and bake for another 4 minutes.
- Add the chickpeas to the mixture and serve while still lukewarm.
You can eat this salad as a full meal, eventually with some bread. You can also serve it as a side dish, for example with a barbecue. If you wish can can also add some feta cheese, which tastes delicious in combination with the chickpeas.
About chickpeas
Chickpeas are native to Turkey, Anatolia. From there they have spread over the entire Mediterranean and India. This also explains why they appear so often in many dishes from these cuisines. the latin name is Cicer arietinum. There you also recognize the current name: Cicer pea.
Chickpeas are especially popular with people on a vegetarian or vegan diet. They are also the perfect meat substitute because they contain so much vegetable protein.
I had the inspiration for this salad from a German blog: Ellerepublic. If you are looking for great salads, you will surely find some good ideas there. If you are looking for other surprising recipes with chickpeas, you may have a look at the following recipes:
If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.
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