Aish Cooks

This salad is so basic and at the same time hearty and completely full of flavor. You can count on me to never make anything that tastes even remotely bland. And that’s thanks to my well seasoned taste buds that are much too primed to appreciate the subtleties of just salt and pepper action (no offence to the many wonderful dishes that a lot of you out there enjoy.. I’ve just been into the fiery stuff for way too long now). Anyways, this goes to say that for a salad to find its place in our recipe collection it has to be really really yummy. This salad gets made pretty frequently ever since the first time when I decided to just bring together everything I fancy – had been eyeing those beautiful little red cherry tomatoes for a while. You can change the recipe to include your favorites too. For instance, I know red onions would be fantastic in this mix – but I skipped it for D’s sake. So feel free to pick your choice of fresh vegetables – just make sure to keep the chickpeas and tomatoes! Makes for a great weeknight meal by itself and you can refill all you want without the guilt of indulgence 🙂

Chickpeas and Cherry Tomatoes Salad

Serves: 4 – 6 | Total Time: 20-25 minutes (much lesser with canned chickpeas)

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup dry chickpeas (white channa), soaked overnight (substitute with 2 cups canned chickpeas)
2. 8 or 9 oz pack of cherry /grape tomatoes, halved
3. 1 cucumber, finely chopped
4. 4-5 scallion stalks, finely chopped (optional)
5. 1/2 bell pepper (any color), finely chopped
6. 2 jalapeno peppers, de-seeded and diced (optional if making for kids)
7. 1/8 cup fresh basil or any herbs of choice for garnishing (optional)
8. 2 tbsp olive oil
9. 3 tbsp vinegar (I used white)
10. 1 tbsp Italian seasoning, or to taste
11. 1/2 lemon, juiced
12. salt to taste
13. pepper to taste

Method:

1. If using dry chickpeas, boil soaked chickpeas along with some salt until tender but not mushy (15 – 20 minutes with lid). Drain the water.
2. If using canned chickpeas, use as-is.
3. Combine chickpeas with rest of the ingredients in large bowl and toss until everything comes together.
4. Adjust seasonings to taste.

I like it chilled, but you can dig in right away as well!