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 ...