Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Nohut Salatasi- Turkish Chickpea Salad

This is a simple yet delectable and healthy salad from the versatile turkish cuisine.Turkish cuisine is fusion of Arabic,Balkan and other cuisines in the middle east.Apart from certain dishes throughout the country,it is a mix of regional cuisines.I had found Turkish to be full of dishes which can be easily converted to vegan or vegetarian depending on how you want it and a vegean/vegetarian will have a variety to choose from if at all he/she goes to Turkey :). Anyway after trying Turkish soup,Kofteh and Tomato Salad this is another one such dish which is easy to prepare and healthy. This is a simple chickpea salad that is from the Classical Turkish Cooking by Ayla Algar.I got the said recipe from here and also referenced this blog where it has been tried out.

Ingredients:
Chickpeas: 1/2 cup
Red onion: 1 small

Dressing:
Red/Green Jalapenos : I used green chillies: chopped/sliced:1-2 as per taste
Fresh Cilantro
Fresh /Frozen Parsley
Thyme: I ued dried
Mint: fresh/ dried
Tarragon :substitute with marjoram/basil: I used dried
Garlic: Crushed: 1-2 cloves
Cumin: crushed : substitute with cumin powder.
Olive oil: 2+ tbsp
RedWine Vinegar: 2 tbsp
Lemon Juice: 2 tbsp +
Salt & Pepper : to taste

Preparation:
Soak chickpeas and cook till done.Remove the skin of chickpeas (I did not) and toss it in a big bowl along with finely chopped red onion.

Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl and pour over the chickpeas-onion and toss well to combine.Let it sit for  atleast 30 minutes for the flavours to be absorbed.Adjust salt,pepper and vinegar/lemon juice serve at room temperature or chilled.


You can adjust the herbs as per taste and availability.I used more cilantro than parsley and substituted tarragon with dried marjoram.You can also use basil(fresh/frozen/dried) instead of tarragon.Also you can replace redwine vinegar with lemon juice though I used a mix of both.The taste was excellent.Chicpeas and herbs go a long way and here the first taste is that of the lemony herbs followed by the filling heartiness of the chickpeas.This can be used as a side salad or even a pita filling or a whole bowl can be served as a filling lunch.

This is my first entry to AWED:Turkish at Saveur, an event by DK.This also goes to MLLA #26 at Simona's,an event by Susan.

Update on 12,August : The salad is also visiting CWF:Chickpeas at NithuBala's, an event by Kiran



8 Comments:

Swathi said...

Chickpea salad looks yummy. Nice clicks.

anudivya said...

Reminds me of a friend from Cyprus who loves chikpeas! Looks so beautiful CL.

Unknown said...

beautiful and healthy salad.

Kiran said...

This Turkish chickpea salad looks very delicious.

You can send this to Nithu's event with Chickpeas.Check the link below:

http://www.nithubala.com/2010/08/250th-post-cwf-lb-chickpeas-event.html

Unknown said...

this turkish salad looks delicious..love the balkan cuisine!

Soma said...

Love the simplicty but gorgeous flavors of the turkish cuisine and this is no different. Lovely!

janet said...

This looks delicious! I think Turkish cuisine is great for the summertime with all the fresh herbs and vegetables. :) Thanks for submitting it to AWED this month.

Simona Carini said...

A very appealing dish for a chickpea lover. Thanks for participating.

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