Chickpeas Supreme

It’s starting to be the summer now. Mostly. Barely. And that definitely changes the kinds of things I want to eat for lunch.

A friend got me thinking about how in general those of us who work in the world of food don’t tend to share our regular meals with people. Largely because, just like everyone else, most of them are unglamorous and expedient. I might share the amazing donuts I got, but not the bowl of cereal or the bell pepper with hummus.

So with that in mind, here is a meal I make a lot when I’m on my own during the warmer months. I think of it as “can of chickpeas+” so that means a can of chickpeas (sometimes I do other beans, but they aren’t quite as appealing cold) and whatever else is hanging out in my vegetable drawer. This is what I had today! The dressing is also extremely changeable, but I do try to add quite a bit of flavor in the dressing since the chickpeas soak it up so well.

Also the general rule of salads applies here. You want something filling and protein-heavy (the chickpeas), something salty (the dressing, and in this case, simply adding enough salt), something crunchy (the tortilla chips and the cucumber to some extent) and lots of juicy, refreshing and bright flavors from the other vegetables. Try to chop things up reasonably small so you can get a little of everything in each bite. And that’s pretty much it.

This came together in about 5 minutes. So I could get back to sitting in this chair with my computer. How lucky am I with this great outdoor work space?

I’ll share some other variations of this bowl over the next couple of months as I bust it out. I also would not be against making a big batch of this and having it to reach for throughout the week, you can just change the dressing or add things to it if you get bored.

Also, yes, you can definitely use peanut butter instead of cashew, I have just been experimenting with cashew lately. It’s so dreamy!

Chickpeas Supreme

A flexible full-meal salad based around chickpeas and a spicy, nut butter dressing.

Course Main course, Salad

Servings 1 generous serving

Ingredients

Dressing

• 1 Tbsp cashew butter
• 1 tsp sriracha
• 1 lime juiced
• 1 tsp water
• salt to taste

Salad

• 1 can chickpeas (approximately 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cucumber chopped
• 1 tomato chopped
• 1/2 avocado chopped
• 1/4 cup tortilla chips broken into small pieces
• 1 scallion chopped

Instructions

1. In a large bowl add the cashew butter, sriracha (or any chili sauce you like), lime juice, water and a little salt. Whisk it together and if it is still pretty thick add a bit more water until it is thin and runny enough to swirl around the bowl easily. Taste it and add more salt if you need it. Mine needed a healthy pinch because I was using cashew butter with no added salt.
2. Now add the chickpeas, cucumber, tomato, avocado and tortilla chips. With a pair of tongs or a spoon toss all the ingredients together with the dressing until everything is nicely coated and mixed. Just like this.
3. Pile it as prettily as you can into a bowl, sprinkle it with chopped scallions and serve! I eat all of this myself, but usually not all in one sitting. I eat most of it at lunch and then slowly grab a bite or two throughout the afternoon. It keeps me going so I can wait for a later evening dinner.