It’s been a hot minute since I’ve served up an Adventure in Domesticity, but fear not: I have been cooking my arse off the past few months. I have a full-on backlog of recipes to share, and I’m getting back into the groove with this healthy ditty from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s amazing cookbook, Jerusalem: The Cookbook. The recipe I speak of is Spiced Chickpeas and Fresh Vegetable Salad, a hearty and healthy vegetarian option that makes great use of summer veggies such as heirloom tomatoes (which conveniently I used).
Check out the results after the jump…
First things first: the recipe calls for ground cardamom, but in classic Ben fashion, I only have whole. I therefore have to begin the process of crushing the pods, extracting the seeds, and grinding them up. Ugh.
I’m not a player, I just crush a lot.
Finally, I have a decent harvest of seeds.
And here we are. Ground cardamom. Ten minutes of hard work complete.
Into a ramekin goes the cardamom, some allspice, cumin, and salt. Things are getting exciting now!
I’d like to introduce our radishes for the evening.
Nearby, Sly lurks.
There are many vegetables to be chopped, including this cucumber, from which I’ve removed the seeds.
As promised, there was choppage.
Now it’s time to attack the radishes.
Well, isn’t this looking lovely?
Some red pepper joins the mix.
Well hello, heirloom tomato.
We’re halfway to a gazpacho at this point.
And now some red onion. Colors colors everywhere!
Crying from the onions. I can’t help it.
Some cilantro and parsley to give this dish some herbal life.
Time to mix ‘er all up. Memo to self: use a bigger bowl next time.
Time to make a dressing: olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, white wine vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper.
Ta-da! I then pour this dressing over the veggies and toss lightly.
And now the fun part. Remember that powder mixture? Well, here it is, plopped out on a plate.
I roll out some drained, canned chickpeas into the spice mix until they’re all covered. Technically, I’m not supposed to use canned chickpeas, but I do not have the patience or foresight to get my dried garbanzo party started 24 hours earlier.
Macro shot!
The chickpeas then go into a pan where they fry away in a little bit of olive oil for a few minutes.
And now they’re done.
Time to plate: first I place a large helping of the veggies in a bowl. Then I add a heaping spoonful of the warm chickpeas…
Lastly, a little dollop of Greek yogurt is optional (but highly recommended).
The final product.
Don’t it look so pretty?
I have nothing to say. I just like looking at it.
THE VERDICT:
Super tasty. This here is a healthy dish that will leave your soul singing, if I may be dramatic. The flavors are clean and refreshing, particularly the cool, crunchy veggies which contrast beautifully with the warm and warmly spiced chickpeas. The dollop of yogurt is optional, but it’s 100% worth adding as it brings a tangy creaminess to the whole dish, binding it together perfectly. With all the chopping and frying and such, this salad takes slightly more time than anticipated, but the results more than make up for that inconvenience. This is definitely a recipe worth making, especially for those of us who are trying to eat healthier…
Full recipe (in metric) here.
I wish I could come over & try this – because I’ll probably never make it, but it looks beautiful
I’ve begun using the Oxo version chopper for turnips and fetoush (sp?) salads. I like that it chops everything into equal small bits and you can throw it in the dishwasher. In fact I’ve expanded my vegi repertoire because everything is tolerable when properly diced. Which ,if it wasn’t so odd , would be my new motto