Recipe video above. The best Chickpea Salad I've ever had! Inspired by a recipe from "Jerusalem" by Yotam Ottolenghi, spiced chickpeas give this a wow factor and the Dressing is a beautiful lemon vinaigrette that is not as sharp as most lemon dressings.
Prep Time12 minutesmins
Cook Time3 minutesmins
Total Time10 minutesmins
Course: Lunch, Salad, Vegan
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Keyword: chickpea salad
Servings: 4as side
Calories: 295cal
Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Ingredients
Chickpeas
400g / 14 ozcan chickpeas, drained but still wet (Note 1)
2tbspolive oil
Chickpea Spices
1tspground cumin
1 1/2tspAll Spice
1tspground cardamon
1/4tspsalt
Salad
2cucumbers, diced
2tomatoes(or 3 medium tomatoes), diced
1red onion (small), diced
1/4 cupcoriander leaves, roughly chopped
1/4 cupparsley, roughly chopped
Dressing
1 1/2tbspsherry vinegar(Note 2)
Zest of half a lemon
2tbsplemon juice
1/4cupextra virgin olive oil
1tspcaster sugar
1garlic clove, smashed(Note 3)
Salt and pepper
Instructions
Combine the Dressing ingredients in a jar and shake. Set aside for 20 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.
Place chickpeas in a large bowl. Scatter over Spices, then toss to coat. The wetness of the chickpeas will make the spices stick.
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan over high heat and fry the chickpeas for a couple of minutes. Shake the pan so the chickpeas roll, or stir gently (so the spice coating doesn't come off). Transfer into bowl and cool slightly.
Combine the Salad Ingredients in a bowl. Drizzle with a bit of Dressing and toss. Transfer to serving bowl.
Top salad with chickpeas (warm or at room temperature). Drizzle with more Dressing. Toss very gently, if desired (don't toss too much otherwise spice comes off chickpeas). Serve immediately.
Great served with a dollop of yoghurt and pita bread to stuff the salad into.
Notes
1. Feel free to use dried chickpeas you have cooked yourself if you prefer. You'll need 1 3/4 cup. Wet the chickpeas and drain per recipe (so the spices stick).2. Sherry vinegar is fantastic for dressings because it's not as sharp as other vinegars. I can't remember if it's sold in Australian supermarkets, I think I get mine from Harris Farms. If you can't find it, sub with white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar.3. To smash the garlic clove, peel it then use the side of your knife and hit it with the palm of your hand so the garlic clove bursts open but mostly stays in one piece. Doing this infuses the dressing with subtle garlic flavour and makes it easy to pick the garlic out later. Alternatively, just mince the garlic.4. This salad is lovely served with a dollop of yoghurt, or stuff it into pita bread.5. You probably may not need all the dressing, so keep the leftover in a jar to use for another salad. It's a terrific all purpose vinaigrette.6. Nutrition assumes this serves 4 as a side. Note that the dressing quantities is quite generous. Typically I only use about half. 60 calories of the 295 calories per serving is attributable to the olive oil in the dressing, so if you don't use it all, you will reduce the calories.* Recipe first published May 2014. Updated 28 February 2018 with fresh photos, new words in post and recipe video. No change to recipe.