Chickpea salad

Getting good vegan food in the majority of restaurants in the Netherlands used to be problematic, fortunately, times have changed. Try vegan and you often will be amazed by the choices offered! A lot of progress in the last 40 years.

I love any kind of lentils, beans, and chickpeas. Here one of my favorites with chickpeas, ready in less than 10 minutes if you use canned chickpeas (otherwise you have to soak the chickpeas for 12 hours and cook them in a pressure cooker for  30 minutes) and skip the chilling of the salad.

This is the recipe for chickpea salad from Viddhu Mital’s Pure & Simple:

Ingredients:

1 big can chickpeas (or 125 gm if you soak and cook them yourself)

For the dressing:

1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoon powdered sugar

1 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon red chilli flakes

Curry leaves

For the tempering

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

12-15 curry leaves

For the garnishing
2 tablespoon grated coconut

1 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped

Method
Strain the chickpeas and rinse with water. Or, if you cook the chickpeas yourself: boil, strain and cool.

For the dressing: combine all the ingredients, mix well. Mix the dressing with the chickpeas, cover and chill for an hour.

For the tempering: heat 1 tablespoon of oil for about 30 seconds; add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Pour over the chilled salad, just before serving.

Serve garnished with grated coconut and coriander leaves.

Enjoy!

Ps about the curry leaves: I live in The Hague, so it is easy to get fresh curry leaves in one of the Asian supermarkets! One of the Chinese supermarkets sells the plant! I have never tried this recipe with dried curry leaves ...

Tofunaar and soycerer

Some time ago, I cooked my friends a tofu stew. They liked it so much that they exclaimed 'she is a real tofunaar! And a new term was coined for the wizard with tofu, in Dutch a play on words, a combination of tovenaar (sorcerer) and tofu (soybean curd). Actually easy to translate in English with soycerer.
What was the dish that lay at the root for this creativity? My version of a tofu stew, and here for you the recipe.

Tofu stew (4 persons)

Ingredients:

250 gr Tofu

Marinade for Tofu:

½ tablespoon sunflower oil

½ teaspoon ginger powder

½ teaspoon cumin powder

1/8 teaspoon turmeric

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

10 ml soy sauce or tamari

10 ml water

Stew:

50 gr. onions

250 gr. Chinese or white cabbage, sliced

60 gr. peas

60 gr. French beans, sliced

200 gr. sbean sprouts

60 gr. carrots, small pieces

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon coriander powder

¼ teaspoon grated galangal root (laos)

1 teaspoon grated ginger

¼ teaspoon red chili powder

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

water

salt to taste

2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves

Method marinade, 12-24 hrs before cooking the stew:

Chop tofu in small cubes.

Heat the sunflower oil in a non-stick pan and fry all the spices for 30 seconds, add soy sauce (or tamari) and water. Mix well. Add the tofu cubes and add water until the tofu is covered, mix and cook for a few minutes. Let this mixture cool down, cover it and keep aside (if the outside temperature is too warm, keep in the fridge).

Preparing the stew:

Peel and chop the onions, slice the cabbage, slice the French beans and chop the carrots.

Heat the sunflower oil, add cumin seed and mustard seed, when the seeds start jumping add the onions and fry till golden. Add grated ginger, galangal root, coriander powder and red chilli powder and fry a few seconds. Add carrots, cabbage(white cabbage takes more time to cook than Chinese cabbage) and French beans, cook until soft, add peas and tofu with its marinade, cook for another 10 minutes. Add bean sprouts and coriander leaves just before serving.

Enjoy with rice!