Herby Toasted Chickpea Salad Recipe from Melanie Hadida Nutrition

Herby Toasted Chickpea Salad Recipe from Melanie Hadida Nutrition

Nutritional Consultant and uber foodie Melanie Hadida picked up her love for cooking after the first of many trips to India over a decade ago. Whilst living and working in an urban clinic she learnt to cook healthy and delicious vegetarian dishes from the local women in the community.
With her Moroccan family’s cooking traditions came a lifelong love of fresh herbs and spices that developed a passion for Indian and Mediterranean cuisine. Melanie’s services include Nutritional consultancy, event catering and also family or group cookery sessions and classes. Catch one of Melanie’s upcoming cookery workshops as she teaches everything from Indian tapas, middle eastern meze and delicious vegetarian Indian street snacks from her foodie HQ in Chapel Allerton.
    
We’ve been lucky enough to share one of her recent recipes of herby toasted chickpea salad and quick-caramelised shallots.
This is a vibrant and colourful salad that brings together sweet, salty and tangy flavours. Serve this salad alongside grilled meat or seafood or as part of a larger salad selection for guests. The toasted chickpeas and nuts make it extremely filling and the leftovers will make a perfect lunch for your next work day that all your colleagues will be jealous of.
INGREDIENTS

• An assortment of freshly picked herbs such as mint, coriander, parsley, chives etc.
• An assortment of roughly chopped colourful veggies such as tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and bell peppers
• 1 can of chickpeas
• Sumac (if you can’t get a hold of sumac try a combo of sweet paprika, sea salt and lemon zest—or any combo of spices you fancy!)
• 3-4 large banana shallots
• Honey (or maple syrup as a vegan replacement)
• Olive oil
• 1 lemon and 1 small orange
• Salt and pepper

METHOD
Roughly chop your assortment of fresh herbs. Add any leaves you have leftover in your fridge such as endives, spinach, kale etc.
Roughly chop your veggies (cut them into bite-sized chunks about the size of a large chickpea). Be sure to gut your tomatoes of slime and seeds before chopping and
In a large flat frying pan, toast some pine nuts, and bashed pistachio kernels on medium/high heat until golden and fragrant. Transfer to a small bowl and allow them to cool off.
In the same frying pan, heat up a small amount of oil. Drain and rinse one can of chickpeas and shake the colander to remove as much water from the chickpeas as possible.
Throw the chickpeas into the frying and shake the pan so that they’re spread out. Sprinkle a generous pinch of sumac (or your alternative spice blend) and sea salt. If you can’t get your hands on some sumac you can use your own selection of spices. Ground coriander and paprika are also nice. Shake the pan to distribute the spices and toast the chickpeas on high heat for a few minutes, shaking every once in a while.
While the chickpeas are frying, thinly slice the shallots.
When the skin of the chickpeas begin to sizzle and blister, remove them and transfer to a bowl to cool off. Add another drizzle of oil to the frying pan. Add the onions, some salt, and a squeeze of honey or maple syrup, lower the heat and allow the onions to cook down until golden. This shouldn’t take too long if the onions are cut finely.
When the nuts, chickpeas and onions have cooled off sufficiently, add them to the bowl of chopped veg and toss well.
Drizzle with some good olive oil, honey, and the juice from a lemon and half an orange. Season with loads of sea salt and cracked black pepper and enjoy!
For more info about Melanie’s upcoming events or to book your place head over to https://www.melaniehadidanutrition.com/upcoming-events/