Fancy A Quick Lunch? This Greek Chickpea Salad Should Do It

A cross between a Greek salad and a bean salad, this dish requires no actual cooking, just a bit of chopping and assembling. It’s the perfect meal to make when you want something healthy but don’t want to turn on the cooker or spend more than 10 minutes at the worktop. It’s also testament to a tin of chickpeas’ convenience, versatility, affordability, and healthiness. If you’re vegan, simply omit the feta cheese. This salad is best enjoyed right after you make it, when everything is crunchy and fresh, but it can absolutely hang out in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days without any worries. Serve over chopped rocket or cos lettuce if you want a bit more heft. Toasted pita bread would be welcome, too.

Greek Chickpea Salad

Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side dish

Ingredients
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
60ml olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
½ tsp kosher salt, plus more as needed
1 tsp dried oregano, rubbed between your fingertips
1 x 425g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 medium cucumber, ends trimmed, coarsely chopped
1 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
2 large vine-ripened tomatoes, cored and cut into bite-size wedges (or 2 large handfuls cherry tomatoes, halved)
60g crumbled feta cheese
100g green or black olives

Method
Place the vinegar, olive oil, garlic, salt, and oregano in a large bowl and whisk well to combine. Add the chickpeas, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, and tomatoes and mix gently to combine. Season the salad to taste with salt. Transfer it to a serving bowl or to individual bowls and top with the feta and olives.

Serve immediately.

Extracted from Feed the Resistance by Julia Turshen (Chronicle Books, approx €12.50). Photograph by Sasha Israel.

http://www.abramsandchronicle.co.uk/books/lifestyle/9781452168388-feed-the-resistance