Beet and Chickpea Salad

This recipe is from Good and Cheap.

Good and Cheap is a gorgeous cookbook for people with limited income, particularly on a $4/day food stamps budget. The PDF is free (ahora en Español!) and has been downloaded more than 15,000,000 times. I have more cookbooks, too!

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This salad of beets and chickpeas, from Good and Cheap was a surprise hit! Although I love it, I worried it might seem too odd for many people to try. But I hear about it a lot when I speak to people about what they’ve made. It’s especially popular among the early-twenties crowd! A very simple few ingredients, and it’s satisfying and balanced enough to be a meal in itself.

This dish is spicy, crunchy, and almost certainly the pinkest salad you’ll ever eat! Don’t be scared.

Beet and Chickpea Salad

An interesting combination of earthy (pink!) beets and chickpeas in a lightly spicy dressing with crunchy peanuts.

Course Salad

Servings 2

Ingredients

• 2-3 beets peeled and grated
• 1 cup chickpeas cooked or canned
• 3 Tbsp peanuts

Dressing

• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp chile sauce
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Peel the raw beets, removing the stems if necessary, then shred the beets with a box grater. Place the beets in a bowl along with the chickpeas and nuts.
2. Mix up the dressing ingredients in another small bowl and stir to combine. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper to your liking.
3. Add the dressing to the other bowl and mix up all the ingredients. Let it sit for about 5 minutes so that the flavors can soak into the vegetables and the beet juices can mingle with the dressing.