Warm chickpea salad – A South Indian take on warm salads
These days it’s all about the warm salad for me. When one component of the salad is warm, it provides such an elevated contribution to the whole dish. Take for instance a bed of greens that are tossed together in a warm vinaigrette of mustard and shallots. Just imagine what life is like for those greens as they are given the perfect chance to absorb new flavors. Or a potato salad that is tossed in it’s dressing whilst still warm – isn’t that the difference between a great potato salad and one that makes you say ‘ehh..’
Salads often draw from opposites. Something soft, something crunchy, a little sweet and a little tangy. Well, this holds true for the temperature too. With this in mind, I proceeded to make a warm chick pea salad. The chickpeas were given a searing with some curry leaves, removed from the heat and tossed with with tomatoes, onions and some loose arugula levaes. All of this was given a quick shake with grated coconut and vinaigrette for that sweet and tangy punch and voila, a salad from the gods awaits you.
Warm chickpea salad – A South Indian take on warm salads that satisfy for dinner or as an afternoon snack
Ingredients
1 can chickpeas (12oz)
2 tbsp. crushed tomato
¼ cup roasted peanuts
Salt
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp .coriander seeds
½ tsp. chili powder
15 curry leaves
¼ cup of desiccated coconut
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 green chili, julienned
Handful of arugula
½ red onion, julienne
1 vine tomato, julienne
4 tbsp. chopped cilantro leaves, plus whole leaves to garnish
Method
1) Heat oil, add mustard seeds. As they pop, add curry leaves and coriander powder. Add chickpeas and allow to brown slightly. Add tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes to lose raw taste
2) Season with salt and chili powder, add lemon juice. Add in the coconut and peanuts
3) Remove from heat and toss with onions, tomatoes, cilantro and arugula
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