Eat Your Greens Chickpea Medley

By bslobogean

Ingredients

• For the chickpea medley:
• 2 cups dried/uncooked chickpeas (makes 5.5-6 cups cooked)
• 1 (5-oz) package baby spinach
• 1.5 cups cilantro, large stems removed (or parsley)
• 3/4 cup red onion, chopped finely
• For the dressing:
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt + ground pepper

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from ohsheglows.com

Preparation

Step 1

2 cups dried/uncooked chickpeas (makes 5.5-6 cups cooked)

1. To cook chickpeas:
Soak 2 cups dried chickpeas in a large bowl of water overnight (I find around 12 hours or a bit longer is ideal). Soaking beans makes them digest easier and it also cuts down on cooking time. Drain and rinse the beans in the morning and add to a large pot of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, uncovered, until fork tender, about 40 minutes (this will vary depending on how fresh your dried beans are). Feel free to set the timer, walk away, and go about your business!

3. In a food processor, add the spinach and cilantro and pulse until chopped very small. You can do this in a couple batches if your processor is smaller. Add the processed spinach and cilantro, drained cooked chickpeas, and chopped onion into a large bowl and stir.

4. In a small jar, whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, minced garlic, cumin, maple syrup, and salt.

5. Pour the dressing on top of the spinach chickpea mixture and stir well. Let stand for about 10 minutes (or overnight) to let the flavours develop. Will keep for a few days, or longer, in the fridge.

add one

Heather @ Barefoot Crafts

The photography in this post is stunning! You have a lot of patience to soak beans, because 99% of the time, I end up just grabbing canned and rinsing them. If you make a big batch ahead of time, do you know how long they’d be good for? I’m thinking I’d be more likely to soak them, if I could get multiple uses out of them. Thanks! :-)

Hey Heather, I find they last about 4 days in the fridge in an air tight container or jar. Otherwise, you can freeze leftovers after cooking!

You could make some soup to put some of them in and or make some hummus too! Yum!!

I am so lazy when it comes to just opening a can of chickpeas. You’ve inspired me to cook my own this weekend. I might even make some falafel with coriander and cumin! Yum. Xxx

I do on occasion, but I don’t always remember to add it in. To be honest, I don’t know if I’ve noticed a big difference when using it. I’ll have to pay more attention next time. I would suggest rinsing the beans after using it – I don’t recall having that problem with it leaving a residue, but a good rinse should take care of it.

I’m ashamed to admit I have yet to cook with dried and soaked chickpeas. I’m always lazy and buy Eden’s canned version but I should try to cook more from scratch and buy them dried. I’m sure it makes a big difference in the final product!

I’m looking forward to trying this, it looks delicious and the perfect lunch to store in the fridge for busy work weeks. I love your recipes Angela, mostly because you use ingredients that are staples in the pantry and I can make right away!

Thanks for the great recipe! For the record, I love all the recipes you post and they seem quite balanced to me! =) My husband and I went vegan in April after watching a series of documentaries. I found your blog and I’ve never looked back! Probably at least 75% of my recipes are from you. You are my inspiration. When the hubs says something like…”Can you make {insert random food here} vegan style?” I usually say, “Let me check Angela’s recipes!” Thank you so much for what you do. Pretty sure I couldn’t have made the switch without you. So excited for the cookbook! Is it going to be released as a kindle book?!

Oh my . All the colors in your photo just pop. I love your presentation and the way you arranged the colorful summer tomatoes and the symmetry of the dish.You made that simple chick pea recipe look amazing. I want to run and make it right now.. I try to soak my chickpeas whenever I can because I’ve read that cans actually contain toxins.. but in a pinch, they are so convenient..

This looks amazing. Exactly the kind of salad I’ve been craving, except I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to make (until now!) I would serve it with the tomatoes, just like you did in the pictures here – it may not be practical, as you say, but I’m sure the flavours are great together.

Even though you said the cukes get watery, would the recipe taste way different without the salt, so I could still add them in? I’ve been on a cucumber kick this summer, and this salad sounds like it would be so tasty with them added!! (Also I’m mildly terrified of making beans from scratch…you make it sound so easy though! I think it might be time to try them again!)

Had just enough to make a half batch of this for my dinner…I ended up chopping up the greens by hand on a cutting board.

I just froze a bunch of chickpeas I cooked on Monday. I actually don’t think I cooked them long enough though, so I’ll have to take them out of the freezer and boil them some more. D’oh!! This salad sounds great and you’re right about the switches, cause I might try it with kale instead!!! I’ve been cooking too much lately; I need to get some cold, fresh salads back into the mix before summer disappears (that means, I better not blink!).

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