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Chickpea and vegetable salad bowl

Chickpea and vegetable salad bowl
Photo: FitTasteTic, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Ingredients

For 4 servings. 1 serving = 1 adult; a 6-year-old eats about half.

  • White chickpeas (dried)200 g
  • Lebanese cucumbers1½
  • Tomatoes200 g (~1½ medium)
  • Capsicum100 g (~½)
  • Brown onions60 g (~½ medium)
  • Coriander leaves10 g
  • Lemons1
  • Cumin seeds (jeerakam)½ tsp
  • Sunflower or rice-bran oil1 tbsp
  • Salt¾ tsp

You need

  • Small tempering pan (tadka pan)
  • Mortar and pestle
  • Sharp knife and chopping board
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Lunchboxes with ice bricks

Method

  1. The night before: move a portion of cooked chickpeas (from 200 g dried chickpeas, cooked on Sunday) from the freezer to the fridge to thaw.
  2. In the morning: toast ½ tsp cumin seeds in the dry small pan on medium-low for 1 minute, shaking, until fragrant and a shade darker. Crush them in the mortar.
  3. In the morning: dice 1½ cucumber, 200 g (~1½ medium) tomato and 100 g (~½) capsicum into 1 cm cubes. Finely dice 60 g (~½ medium) onion and chop 10 g coriander.
  4. In the morning: in the bowl, mix the juice of 1 lemon, 1 tbsp oil, ¾ tsp salt and the cumin.
  5. In the morning: drain the chickpeas, tip them and the vegetables into the dressing and toss well.
  6. In the morning: pack with an ice brick.

Tips

  • For toddlers, squash each chickpea lightly with a fork; whole ones are a choking risk.
  • A drained 400 g tin of chickpeas is enough for about 2 servings.

Make it easier

  • Weekend: Soak white chickpeas Saturday, pressure-cook Sunday. Freeze in portions.
  • The night before: Thaw a portion of chickpeas tonight.

Keeping and freezing

  • Fridge: keeps 1 day in a lidded box. Cool it within an hour of cooking.
  • Freezer: does not freeze well; eat within the fridge time.