Chickpea & Tomato Salad

Chickpea & Tomato Salad. image: Essy Roz

Chickpea & Tomato Salad. image: Essy Roz

My chickpea and tomato salad became a huge celebration at our house a long time ago.
It’s our favorite dinner on hot summer days.
It’s a refreshing and nutritious bite for all of us.
It’s such a beautiful and delicious bite,
Which instantly turns to a festive bite at every table it reaches.

There is not one person who won’t ask for the recipe.
It’s full of options for diversity,
It’s full of options of add-ins,
It’s accessible and beautiful,
It’s exciting and super aesthetic,
It’ll remind you of home, no matter where you are in the world.
It’s a perfect salad,
Just waiting for you to grab a bite of it.

It’s a homemade salad but completely at a restaurant level.
Its preparation time is fast and fun,
It requires a minimum of cuts and a maximum of mixing.
It’ll make you fall in love with it immediately,
And it’s just the bite you’ve been waiting for.

Refreshing salad days, happy and exciting to us all 🙂

Chickpea & Tomato Salad. image: Essy Roz

Chickpea & Tomato Salad. image: Essy Roz

Chickpea & Tomato Salad

Ingredients: suitable for one salad for the center of the table

For the dressing:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Lemon juice out of ½ a lemon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ cup raw tahini (For alternatives, have a look at “A little extra from me”)
• ⅓ cup cool water
• ¼ cup chopped parsley (For alternatives, have a look at “A little extra from me”)

For the salad:

• 1 large tomato cut into cubes (For alternatives, have a look at “A little extra from me”)
• ¼ cup purple onion finely chopped
• 1½ cups boiled chickpeas (For alternatives, have a look at “A little extra from me”)

For serving:

• A plate full of fresh and clean lettuce leaves

Steps:

1. Let’s start by preparing the dressing: in a large bowl suitable for all the contents of the salad, put the ingredients of the dressing in the following order: olive oil, lemon juice, salt, tahini and water and mix well. Add the chopped parsley and mix again.
2. To the bowl, add the chopped tomato and the chopped onion and mix again.
3. Add the chickpeas, mix and taste, if necessary adjust the seasoning and add salt as well if needed.
4. Arrange the lettuce on the serving plate and place the salad on top of them.

Serve the salad to the table with a big smile 🙂

A little extra from me:

• The salad can be kept in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 3 days.
• Raw tahini can be substituted for yogurt, it turns out wonderful this way.
• Parsley can be substituted for chopped basil / coriander / mint.
• Chickpeas can be substituted for any legume or grain you like such as red or white beans / whole or black rice / quinoa / buckwheat etc.
• Tomato can be substituted for red bell pepper or roasted zucchini / eggplant / sweet potato cubes.
• For a crispy salad, you can sprinkle sunflower / pumpkin seeds over the salad.

Olive oil, lemon juice and salt. image: Essy Roz

Add tahini and water. image: Essy Roz

The dressing ingredients before mixing. image: Essy Roz

Add the chopped parsley and mix. image: Essy Roz

Add the tomato and mix. image: Essy Roz

Add the chopped onion and mix. image: Essy Roz

Add the chickpeas on top and mix. image: Essy Roz

The salad after mixing. image: Essy Roz

Arrange the lettuce leaves on the serving plate. image: Essy Roz

Move the salad on top of the lettuce leaves. image: Essy Roz

Chickpea & Tomato Salad. image: Essy Roz

Chickpea & Tomato Salad. image: Essy Roz

Chickpea & Tomato Salad. image: Essy Roz