Chickpea Salad with Quinoa, Almonds and Goats Cheese 18
July 31, 2012
Crunch crunch yum SAL-IV-ATION OF THE NATION.
I am only halfway through typing my second sentence yet I PROMISE I AM NOT LYING my mouth is watering. Every single ingredient in this dish is a favourite of mine (ok, not the tomato, I don’t mind tomato, it’s just not a favourite, but I definitely think it has it’s place, and this salad is one of its places, but I digress….). This is SUCH a yummy lunch or a wonderful side with a dinner of lamb or chicken or anything really…..
It hits all the high notes. Is that a saying?! Basically, there is sour, there is sweet, there is salty, there’s CRUNCH. It’s HEALTHY. It’s just darn YUM! Simple to knock together and if you make my quantity described below you’ll have enough for a few meals, it eats well the next day!
PHUN PHACT: Quinoa – is a PHABULOUS, gluten free SEEDthat is very high in protein!
INGREDIENTS
Salad
2 tins chickpeas, drained
1 red onion, fine dice
1 punet grape tomatoes, about 25, cut into quarters
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1 red capsicum, diced
220 grams slivered almonds, toasted
180 grams Quinoa
180 grams Goats Cheese
Dressing – salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil – I like a 50/50 mix on the lemon juice and the olive oil – but really you have to do what suits you! To dress this quantity of salad you need a total of approx. 100ml dressing.
My GORGEOUS “Joseph Jospeh” food prep set – buy it here!
METHOD
1) Drain chickpeas and chuck into bowl
2) Wash Quinoa well and add to pot with water and cook (refer to back of pack for instructions and amount of water etc!)
3) Dice onion
4) Quarter tomatoes
5) Chop parsley and dice Capsicum. I prefer to have these ingredients, toms, onions, caps diced and small as that way with each mouthful of salad you get a little bit of everything! And that’s what it’s all about. PHLAVOUR COMBINATIONS! Also, remember, when cutting capsicum, to avoid seeds galore phlying EVERYWHERE, simply remove the four cheeks and discard the core with seeds intact!
6) Place raw slivered almonds on baking paper and on tray into oven at 180 degrees until they are golden, maybe 5 mins. DO NOT WALK AWAY, THEY WILL – THEY WILL – THEY WILL BURN!
7) Mix all ingredients (but not nuts yet) in bowl together – that’s chickpeas, onion tomato and capsicum and parsley.
8) Once Quinoa ready, cool it down by spreading on a tray and then add to salad. Toss through.
9) Roughly chop the goats cheese. Add almonds to salad and toss through, reserving a small handful to garnish the top. Then add goats cheese and toss through, also reserving some for the top of the finished salad.
READY TO EAT!!
Lemme no if you make it and what you think!!! And don’t phorget to come and like us on PHACEBOOK!!!!!! (And if you already have, Thanks so much!)
18 comments
Phoodie, the salad looks absolutely delicious!
Thank-you! It IS delicious! You would love it! :)
Wow, this looks delicious. Am going to give this a whirl this week.
Have been reading your blog for a while now and love it. Great recipes and ideas.
Thanks
It REALLY is delicious Margie! Please let me know how you go when you make it! Thanks so much for coming back and reading/checking out my blog, it means a lot to me! I was grinning ear to ear when I read your comment just now and my husband was watching on behind me and he said “You really get a lot of joy to of that (gesture to the computer/my blog), don’t you?!” and I said “Yup!!!” :)
OMG YUM! Thanks for this recipe. I LOVE chick peas and I’m obsessed with goats cheese. I’ll definitely have to make this ASAP! Thanks =D
This one is totally scrumptious!! Thanks so much for your comment :)
Is there anyway we can print out the recipe only, without all the pics? I don’t have a laptop in the kitchen and would like to have the recipe on hand as I make this. Thanks!
Hi Amanda! A few people have been asking for this!! So ever since the requests came flooding through, I now format differently. I write the ingredients and method at the top of the post and put all the pics afterwards. That way when you press “print” you can select to print just the first 1 or 2 pages out of the total number that would normally print! I wish I knew how to have a “printer friendly version” button etc but not tech savvy enough! :) Thanks so much for reading, Phoodie :)
When do you add the dressing? Before the goat’s cheese and almonds are tossed through?
Hi Amanda! You can add the dressing just before you are about to plate and garnish – either drizzle it over then add cheese/almonds to top OR mix it through finished salad then add cheese/almonds to top. Its SO delicious! :)
Thanks!
Love love love love this one!! So beautiful to eat and look at!! And so healthy!
How many people would you suggest this serves as a main dish? eg for lunch. Looks delicious!
Hey There Briony – silly me – should have written this down! I would say 4 – 8 depending on how big an eater you are. We are “big eaters” so for us, 4! But that’s generous! :)
Thanks!!! SOOO yum too!
Actually 4 – 6 , not 8!
This looks amazing! How big are the tins of chickpeas? The ones I’ve bought are 425g each, but there are smaller ones, and now I’m not sure if I’ll get the ratio right.
Hey Emma :) About 400g – so 425 is perfect!! :)
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