Chickpea Salad with Goat Cheese, Olives and Arugula

The theme for this month's No Croutons Required challenge is chickpeas. As warmer weather is finally upon us here in London, Ontario, I decided to make a salad rather than a soup. I do enjoy soup year round, but I wanted to celebrate the sunny weather with a Mediterranean style dish. Easy to prepare, but packed full of flavour, this salad will be on the menu again for sure. I do recommend you use top quality olives and goat cheese. Feta could be used instead of goat cheese if desired, though I rather enjoyed the creamy texture of the goat cheese.


1 1/2 cups of cooked chickpeas (roughly 2/3 cup dried beans)
1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove of finely chopped fresh garlic
1 cup crumbled goat cheese
2 small tomatoes, chopped
generous half cup of pitted kalamata olives
A handful of chopped fresh parsley
Juice from 1 lemon or 2 limes
1/2 teaspoon - 1 teaspoon of paprika
dash of cayenne
dash of chili powder
a few handfuls of arugula (rocket)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Soak the chickpeas overnight in enough water to cover. Drain, transfer to a large pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cover and simmer until the chickpeas are buttery soft - roughly one hour. Drain and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add the onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion is soft and begins to brown.

While the onion is cooking, combine the chickpeas (garbanzo beans), parsley, goat cheese, olives, tomatoes, paprika, cayenne, chili powder and lime juice in a large bowl. Set aside.

Add the garlic to the pan with the onions and stir and fry for about one minute.

Remove from the heat and mix into the chickpea salad. Add sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste and a bit more olive oil if desired.

Serve over fresh arugula leaves, along with some crusty bread for a very satisfying lunch or dinner.



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Chickpea Flour Dumplings in a Spicy Yogurt Sauce

My dear friend Jacqueline recently sent me a most elegant and beautifully presented Indian vegetarian cookbook entitled "Pure and Simple" by Vidhu Mittal. I've already bookmarked lots of recipes to try, but this recipe for immediately got my attention and so this was my first experiment with this lovely book. I certainly was not disappointed. Delightful dumplings smothered in a creamy yogurt gravy. How could I resist?

This cookbook comes highly recommended from my kitchen already. Ms. Vidhu presents an extensive collection of traditional and contemporary recipes inspired by her native province of Uttar Pradesh. Each recipe is accompanied by stunning colour photos, step by step images, helpful hints, often along with serving suggestions. This is a great resource for both novice and experienced cooks. You will find lots of tempting and straight forward recipes for drinks, appetizers and snacks, soups and salads, rice, breads and desserts. The meal menus and reference guide to spices and kitchen tools essential to Indian cooking are also a nice addition.


Adapted from "Pure and Simple"

To make the chickpea flour dumplings:

1 1/4 cups of chickpea flour (gram / besan)
2 teaspoons of fresh ginger, finely chopped
3 green chilies, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup of water
peanut oil for frying

To make the yogurt curry:

2 cups of yogurt
1/2 cup of chickpea flour (gram / besan)
3 cups of water

Seasoning:

1 tablespoon of ghee, or a mixture of butter and oil
1/2 teaspoon of asafetida powder (hing)
1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds
3/4 teaspoon of cumin seeds
small handful of dried red chilies, broken into bits
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
1/4 cup of fresh fenugreek leaves
dash of cayenne

For Tempering:

1 tablespoon of ghee, or a mixture of butter and oil
1/2 teaspoon of asafetida
1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
2 tablespoons of fresh parsley or cilantro

To make the chickpea flour dumplings, combine the flour and water and stir to combine. Add the green chilies and ginger and beat until light and fluffy. Heat roughly 1/2 inch of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When hot, drop small spoonfuls of the batter into the pan and fry until golden brown, flipping occasionally. Transfer to a bowl of salted water (roughly 4 cups of water with 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt). Remove and set aside.

To make the yogurt curry, in a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, gram flour and 3 cups of water. Set aside.

For the seasoning, heat the ghee (or butter and oil) in a large pot over medium heat. When hot, add the asafetida, fenugreek seeds and leaves, cumin seeds, red chilies, turmeric, chili powder and cayenne. Stir and fry for a minute or two.

Now add the yogurt curry, sea salt to taste and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and add the chickpea dumplings to the pan. Simmer, uncovered, for roughly 15 minutes, adding more water if necessary to achieve your desired consistency.

Meanwhile, prepare the tempering. Heat the ghee (or mixture of butter and oil) in a small frying pan or saucepan over medium heat. When hot, add the asafetida, cumin seeds, red chili powder and parsley (or cilantro). Stir and fry for a minute and add to the chickpea dumpling, yogurt mixture.

Serve hot with rice.

Yields roughly 6 servings.



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