Saturday, March 3, 2012

Weekend Cooking...Curried Chickpea Salad

As the end of the week starts approaching, I begin to think about what I will post here on Weekend Cooking.
And since it is Lent, and therefore Fridays are meat free, I take that into consideration also.
Then I happened upon this link to a Whole Food blog with a bunch of recipes using curry, including one with chickpeas. Oh my, I love chickpeas. So I was all set.
Wow, look at that..more limes...more cilantro. Love it.

Now, you know I had to make a change or two, right?
I have always considered curry a spice that needs to 'bloom' in hot oil. So I just took the olive oil in the recipe, heated it in a pot and added the curry, letting it cook for a few minutes, (gosh, that smells good) and then letting it cool before continuing. It said the whole cumin should be toasted, so I put it in a dry pan and heated it just until you could smell it.(wow, that smells good too!) And I increased the lime juice for 2 to 3 tablespoons and added the lime zest.
I will tell you that while this is very tasty as soon as you make it, if you let it sit a few hours or, even better, overnight, the flavors really get even better.

Curried Chickpea Salad
(adapted from Whole Food recipe)
Serves 8

Traditional Indian spices and flavors imbue this chickpea salad. Serve over mixed salad greens with pita chips for dinner. If you have any leftovers, spoon the salad into whole wheat pita bread and top with alfalfa sprouts or shredded lettuce for a tasty lunch.

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons lime juice
zest of one lime
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup seedless raisins
2 (15-ounce) cans cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
2/3 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup cilantro or parsley, chopped
8 cups mixed greens
4 cups pita chips (optional)

Method
In a small pot heat oil and add curry power, sauteing for a minute. Let cool before you continue.
In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, lime juice, zest, maple syrup and salt. Add cooled oil and curry. Add raisins, cumin, chickpeas, bell pepper, onion and cilantro and toss to combine. Spoon chickpea salad over salad greens and serve with pita chips on the side, if you like.


 





This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.


23 comments:

  1. Oh yeah. I need this. Now. That sounds absolutely awesome. I was thinking of grilling salmon tonight and was wondering what to serve with it. I do believe this will be it. Oh and I bet this is good in the summer as a main-dish salad that won't heat up your kitchen. Yum.

    Oh, and I never really thought of checking out the Whole Foods blog. Now I have a new place to explore.

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  2. Looks and sounds yummy! What time should I be there?

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  3. I just "pinned" this. It looks great! And I Love, Love the wholefoods blog! What a great place to find recipes, right?!?

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  4. It's like you have my mind, I have been searching the next for a chickpea salad and this on is perfect. I can't wait to try it. Thanks for posting this recipe.

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  5. That looks really good, I might have to make it for my lunches (Minus the cilantro, of course.)

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  6. Looks delicious, we love chick pea salads. Curry is new to me, I have slowly developed a like for it. Will definitely be trying this salad.

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  7. This looks great. I love curried anything!

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  8. I hardly ever make curry anything but your chickpea salad sounds, and looks, good.

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  9. I have never had chickpeas!! Except in hummus. Though my daughter's nickname is Chickpea Banana. Bahhaha. Picture is gorgeous--makes me want to rush to the store and pick up some chickpeas.

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  10. never had chickpeas?...you poor thing..lol

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  11. The addition of maple syrup sounds kind of interesting although 2 tsps isn't much. Do you get any of that flavor or does the curry overwhelm it?

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  12. Looks great and I have chickpeas in the cupboard!

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  13. This looks so good and I do love chickpeas. I'm not sure I'd use all the spices but this is a definite must make recipe. I envy you getting to dig into it right away!

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  14. Yum, I'll add fresh cilantro to my grocery list so I can make this next Friday!

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  15. I do love the smell of curry and spices in the pan. This recipe sounds really nice and one I'll definitely try.

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  16. My kids love garbanzos! I am going to give this a try! Your picture makes it look really good!

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  17. Love, love, love! I am definitely making this next week.. it has everything I love. I bet some diced mango would taste great in there, too. Mmm.

    For those of you with iphones, Whole Foods has a free recipe app that's really great. You can click on ingredients you have on hand and it will pull up some recipes according to those ingredients. I only downloaded it a week or so ago, but it's been fun so far.

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  18. I am furiously writing down the recipe and may well try it in the next week or so. Will have a look at the Whole Foods site you mention.

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  19. I'm always looking for a good Lenten recipe and your photo looks so good, the salad almost jumps out at you.

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  20. This sounds very delicious. I always enjoy chickpeas. The addition of the raisins and maple syrup make the recipe interesting.

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  21. Look yum .. I love curry but I love cumin even more

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