Chickpea Salad

Comfort food meals are pretty much the most awesome thing to me lately, as I expect is likely true of most of us at this point. Sometimes, though, I want something... else. Comfort food, but not heavy like comfort food normally is. A culinary hug without the heft, I guess? This is way better with bell peppers, but I didn’t have any. Y’all can add them in if you like them! This salad is pretty adaptable, and shows up all over the Mediterranean region in myriad forms that are alike and not alike.

One of my favorite versions is the Italian one with tons of cucumbers (it’s like, literally cucumbers and chickpeas with dressing). This version mainly utilizes the produce I have on hand and a simple lemon-and-oil dressing. It goes well with the hummus, always yes with bread, and is lovely as a side for a lot of different entrees you could come up with. In general, I'm not entirely convinced there's anything it doesn't go with, since chick peas have that awesome status of being a bean but not ever seeming (to me) to be heavy like a bean. This is a vegan version, as I want to focus on vegan food for a while so people have more creative(?) ideas for stuff that’s probably in the pantry, but you can change that by adding some hard boiled eggs, cheese, etc. if you’d like. You also, of course, can add meat. And you can change the beans, if that’s not what you stock in your pantry!

Here’s what you’ll need

3 cups cooked chick peas (about 2 cans)
1 cup halved grape tomatoes or other chopped up tomato
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped scallion
2 stalks chopped celery

Dressing:

1/8 cup each: lemon juice, vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
pinch dried marjoram or oregano (or whatever spice you like!)
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint, or about 1 tablespoon dried (sub in whatever you want, or you can omit if desired)

Here’s what you’ll do

Stir together the salad ingredients. Whisk or blend together the dressing ingredients, then fold into the salad. Chill and serve. Serves 4-6 as a side, 2 as a meal portion.