CulinaryMélange

A couple of weeks ago I “discovered” chickpeas. I did eat chickpeas before but for some reason I didn’t do so very regularly. Now I think, I just had the wrong recipes. So when I re-discovered chickpeas I remembered that my mum once made Chickpea Salad, but when I called her to ask for the recipe she couldn’t remember herself how exactly she made it, so I just tried to recall what it tasted like and to recreate it. The main ingredients are chickpeas and cucumber. So, if you love chickpeas and cucumber, this recipe is for you!

Some of you might have already seen it on foodbuzz or flickr. This Chickpea Cucumber Salad is easy to prepare, but if you use dried chickpeas (what I prefer) remember to soak them the  night before you make the salad and that cooking them needs some time (depending on the variety approx. between 30 to 60 minutes).

Serves 1 (as a main dish):
80g Chickpeas (or 160g if you take canned ones)
1/2 Cucumber
5 green Olives
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp. Parsley
Salt & Pepper

1. Put the chickpeas in cold water the evening before the day you want to make the salad (or use 160g of canned ones). Before putting them into the pan, clean them with cold water. Then cook them in fresh water for 1 hour (the water should only simmer) or as long as indicated on the packing.
2. Remove the inside of the the cucumber with a spoon. Then cut it in thin slices or chop it in pieces about a big as the chickpeas. (I used to slice it, now I usually make chunky pieces, it’s slightly quicker this way..)
3. Chop the olives into pieces and add them to the cucumber.
4. When the chickpeas are ready, remove the water and add them to the cucumber.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil (preferrably extra vergine), 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and 1 teaspoon of parsley. Mix roughly, then add salt and pepper as desired.
6. Arrange it nicely on a plate or in a bowl and enjoy it! =)

Variations:
The recipe above is kind of a basic, there’s a lot of space for variations. Add spices and veggies you like (and let me know about it! ^^), for me it’s usually Tomatos, Spring Onions and/or green or red Bell Pepper.